Land Before Time: Time of Great Giving Retold
by Avatar Emerald
Summary: A trio of rival bullies, a drought spreading throughout the Valley, forest fires that threaten to wipe out their home, and now knowing they are carnivores' "most wanted", Littlefoot, Aylene, Cera, Pertie, Ducky, and Spike will need all their courage to overcome the challenges that lie ahead of them. Luckily, they are about to get another unlikely ally.
1. Chapter 1: A Narrow Escape

**Land Before Time: Time of Great Giving Retold**

**A Narrow Escape**

**The Gang is back!**

**But now, they have new challenges to face. A gang of three bullies, a drought spreading throughout the Valley, forest fires that threaten to wipe out their home, and now knowing they are theropod's "most wanted", Littlefoot, Aylene, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike will need all their strength and loyalty if they are going to overcome the trials that lie ahead them. Luckily, they are about to get another unlikely ally.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Land Before Time series; I am merely exploring an alternate story.**

* * *

"Well, I think after we get back I should head back home." Aylene said as she and Littlefoot walked down the path that would take them to the Great Valley.

"Yeah, I think so, too." the longneck nodded.

The human sniffed her arm and then wrinkled her nose in disgust. Oh, she smelled awful!

"Ugh," she groaned, "I seriously need a shower. Not to mention I feel sweaty and gross."

"I still don't understand how you get like that." Littlefoot said. "I mean, the rest of us don't get as wet as you do when we're out in the sun for a long time. How come you do then?"

"It's because I have sweat glands and you guys don't." Aylene shrugged.

"What are sweat glands?"

"It's something only mammals have."

"How come?"

Aylene smiled and shook her head. Littlefoot's curiosity seemed to be an endless void. But then again, that was something they both had in common, which is probably why they had become such close friends.

"Well, mammals are what you called "warm-blooded"." She explained. "In other words, we can generate our own body heat. And when the weather gets too hot, we sweat to help us cool off. That and drinking lots of cold water always helps."

"Ah." Littlefoot nodded. "Would I be considered a mammal, too?"

"No, dinosaurs like you are considered to be reptiles."

"What are reptiles?"

"Reptiles are animals that have hard skin with scales, mammals on the other hand have hair or fur on their skin. Also, reptiles are considered to be cold-blooded. Not in the evil sense, mind you. In this case it means they can't…"

Suddenly, the earth below their feet began to tremble. There was a loud commotion of rocks tumbling down on each other and crashing to the ground just a ways off. Then almost as quickly as it came, the tremor stopped and the sound died away.

Aylene and Littlefoot both stood still for a moment, breathing heavily and looking at each other with an expression of concern on both of their faces.

"Um," the longneck swallowed hard, "was that what I think it was?"

"If it was," Aylene nervously glanced down the path, "then we've got a lot of climbing to do."

At that moment, there was another tremor. Although this one was smaller than the previous shake, it was immediately followed by a series of more tremors that were in even intervals. To make matters worse, they were getting stronger and stronger.

At the same time, both of them heard a noise from behind. To Littlefoot, it was a loud growl. But to Aylene, it was a familiar voice.

"**The scent is stronger this way."**

"**It's a longneck scent, that's for sure."** Another voice gruffly said. **"The second one has got to be from that mysterious creature who attacked us back there."**

"**It's got to be that human we've been hearing about."** Red Claw's voice answered. **"That must mean that two of Sharptooth's defeaters are out of the Valley. How convenient for…for me!"**

"Oh, no!" the girl gasped in horror. "It's Red Claw!"

"Aylene?" Littlefoot nervously said when he heard he the snarl. "What's going on? Who's Red Claw?"

"No time to explain, Littlefoot!" Aylene ordered. "We gotta get out of here!"

Aylene immediately leapt onto the longneck and he set out running down the path. The foot stomps from behind kept getting closer and closer, making Littlefoot sprint even harder.

"**They're running now!"** a raspy voice shouted. **"Hurry!"**

Littlefoot and Aylene hearts leapt when they saw they were passing the swamp where they had found Chomper as an egg. This meant that they were close to the gap in the Great Wall.

"Keep going, Littlefoot!" Aylene said. "We're almost there! We can make it!"

However, when the rounded the corner, they saw a horrible sight that made them stop dead in their tracks.

The gap had been closed!

"Okay, this is bad!" Aylene bit her lip. "This is really bad!"

"Do you think we can climb over this in time?" the longneck asked, afraid.

"Well, we can sure give it a try!" the girl glanced over her shoulder.

Aylene clutched Littlefoot's back tightly as he began to climb up the rocks. The longneck quickened his pace when the snarls and grunts of the pursuers behind them drew closer and closer. Eventually, the longneck grew into a state of panic. When the carnivorous noises were just around the corner, he yelped and missed his footing.

The next thing the two friends new, Aylene lost her grip on Littlefoot's back as his foot slipped and they soon found themselves screaming and rolling down the rocks. When they reached the ground, Aylene landed on her stomach with a painful "THUNK"!

"OW!" she cried.

She curved in pain as her limbs ached from small bruises and scratches. Regardless of the pain, she managed to find the strength to lift herself up and shake her head.

"AYLENE!" Littlefoot shrieked. "BEHIND YOU!"

The girl looked sharply around and drew in a sharp breath. Just at then end of the path was the T-Rex and Utahraptors she had indirectly encountered when she was following Chomper! The large biter's red eye locked on the longneck and human and sneered.

"**There they are!"**

Aylene immediately got up and ran toward her friend as the predators advanced on them. She immediately stood in front of her frightened friend and took her bow off of her shoulder. She gulped as she realized that at this range she could only get off one shot.

Still, she had to do something!

She then went numb as she reached for an arrow. Only she found she was just grasping air. She looked down at her quiver and saw that it was empty!

She looked up and saw her arrows were sprawled out on the ground. She must have fallen out of her quiver when she fell!

She would have run out and grabbed one or two of them if the Red Claw and his minions were just a few feet away!

"_I won't get any in time!"_ she fearfully thought.

"**They're mine!"** Red Claw roared.

To Littlefoot and Aylene's horror, the T-Rex then set out running toward them!

"We're trapped!" the longneck stated, frightened.

Aylene pulse raced as she clutched her friend tightly. The saliva dripping fangs of Red Claw quickly drew closer: ready to end their lives!

There was no way out of this one!

Both of them looked away and screamed! Littlefoot wrapped his neck around Aylene and waited for the impending pain. Aylene shut her eyes, tightened her grip on her friend, and shouted at the top of her lungs:

"_**SOMEONE HELP**_!"

At that moment, the Time Stone around her neck flickered for a split second before igniting a bright, blinding light.

* * *

Red Claw snarled as the white light made him stagger back. Screech and Thud shielded their eyes from the sudden burst and growled.

"What's going on?!" Screech shouted.

Then as quickly as it came, the light vanished. Red Claw turned his head sharply in that direction where his prey had been cowering. However, what he saw made him both angry and confused.

They were gone!

"WHERE'D THEY GO!?" he roared.

The fast-biters looked at each other, utterly perplexed by the situation. Those little runts were standing right there, and their scent was still in the air. But they just disappeared.

"THEY WERE THE TWO OF THE SIX WHO DEFEATED SHARPTOOTH, I'M SURE OF THAT!" the large biter roared again. "AND I HAD THEM RIGHT IN MY JAWS! WHY?! WHY?!

Red Claw took several deep breaths before sharply turning to his lackeys, who jolted in alert as he did.

"Screech! Thud!" he snapped. "What happened?!"

"I-I don't know, Red Claw." Thud answered rather tentatively. "They were there just a second ago. They couldn't have vanished into thin air."

Red Claw's face when from raging anger to pensive when the green fast-biter said that.

"Or could they have." he grumbled.

"Master?" Screech asked cautiously.

"One of those creatures was a human, remember?" Red Claw pointed out. "And humans were always said to have a magical stone that allowed them to come here from their world. I bet that girl has one of those stones."

"And you think that light was from that stone." the blue fast-biter said.

"If that's so," Thud thought out loud, "then where DID they go?"


	2. Chapter 2: A New Problem

**A New Problem**

"Aylene? Aylene, are you okay? Wake up!"

The girl's eyes snapped opened as Littlefoot's voice broke the silence. She immediately sat up and looked at her friend, her head swimming with dizziness as she did.

"Littlefoot!" she cried happily as she threw her arms around her friend. "Oh, thank goodness you're okay!"

"I'm glad you're okay, too!" the longneck laughed as he wrapped his neck around this friend.

The two friends embraced each other as they struggled to calm themselves down after just barely escaping that T-Rex. Once again, they managed to cheat death.

Pretty soon, Littlefoot opened his eyes and gazed at his surroundings in awe. Although he as the first one to awake before Aylene, he didn't really notice his environment until now.

Around them was a square like enclosure that was colored green. In two of the walls were clear opening like things with sunlight streaming through them. In one corner was a large rectangular object that was supported by a wooden structure. In another corner was another large wooden structure that had six shiny things sticking evenly apart from each other both vertically and horizontally.

Behind them were large wooden slabs that appeared to over lap each other and had clear dents on the sides that were closer to the walls. A head of him was another wooden slap with a strange metal thing sticking out of it.

Around the walls were ledges that were full of various things that he couldn't really describe. In one corner was a wooden arrangement that seemed to be full of thin and thick objects with strange markings on them.

"Whoa!" he gasped. "What is this place?"

Aylene opened her eyes and pulled away from her friend. She looked around and her eyes widened in horror.

"Wait," she started to breath heavily, "this is my room."

"Really?" Littlefoot looked at his friend.

However, the expression on her face was disturbing. She looked as if she had seen a ghost. He face was as white as paper and she was shivering a little.

She then slowly turned to the longneck and her face became even paler.

"Uh, YOU'RE in my room!" she panted. "But…that…that means…"

The human gripped her hair tightly and looked as if she was about to pass our again.

"Aylene?"

"OOOOOH, this is really bad!" Aylene got up off the floor, staggered for a moment, and then braced herself against the chair near her desk. "This is not good! This is not good at all!"

"Aylene, what's going on?!" Littlefoot asked.

"Littlefoot," Aylene trembled, "you know how I said that dinosaurs couldn't pass through the dimensional barriers like humans could."

"Yeah." The longneck nervously replied.

"I now think that's not true." the girl slowly turned to her friend. "Because YOU'RE in MY world!"

"What?!" Littlefoot jumped to his feet. "But…how?!"

"I-I don't know." Aylene stuttered. "But…oh man, what are we going to do."

"Can't you just warp us back?" the little saruopod suggested. "You can use the Time Stone, right?"

"Yeah, but there's a problem," Aylene grabbed the stone around her neck, "it has to recharge before I can use it to open a portal back to your world. It usually takes three or four days."

"What?" Littlefoot asked, perplexed. "But you usually come back within a day or two."

"Huh?" Aylene groaned before shaking. "Oh, never mind. Right now, we gotta hide you."

"Hide me?"

"Remember what I said about dinosaurs being gone in my world and if a live one was to be found?" Aylene said, distressed.

Littlefoot thought for a moment before his face changed to very nervous.

"Oh." he said, getting the message.

"Okay, let me think." Aylene mumbled as she rubbed her chin. "We've got to hid you someplace where no one goes too much." The girl then snapped her fingers. "That's it: the garden shed!"

"What's a garden shed?" Littlefoot asked.

"I'll show you."

Aylene took off her bow and gym bag before looking at the clock on her nightstand. The time was 3:00 pm and the date was July 20: the exact time and day when she left to the Land Before Time!

"My parents and brother should still be out of the house." she said. "This is our only chance. C'mon!"

Immediately, the girl darted toward the door, turned the doorknob and threw the door open. She ran down the hallway and looked back. To her dismay, Littlefoot didn't follow. She ran back and saw that he was looking at the doorknob with curiosity.

"Littlefoot, what are you doing?" She groaned.

"How did you do that?" he asked. "What is this?"

"I'll explain later," she moaned, "just c'mon!"

Obeying the human's orders, the longneck quickly followed the girl out of the room and through the house. Although everything he saw at every turn caught his interest, Aylene's urgency kept him walking.

The two approached the kitchen door and Aylene opened it. The door opened with a "CREAK" and led into a darky, grey room that echoed with every move they made.

The two proceeded down the three steps and toward another door at the back of the garage. When they reached it, Aylene opened the door but then stopped.

"Okay," she said in a low voice, "you stay here for a minute, I'm going to open the shed. When I give you the signal, run into it as fast as you can. Got it?"

"Yeah." The longneck nodded.

Aylene quickly ran out to the backyard and to the little white shed that was nestled in the corner of a wooden fence. When she reached it, she practically yanked on the handles and the doors opened with a "CRANK" and a "CREAK".

She opened the doors even wider and then sharply motioned with her hand.

"C'mon!" she strained.

Littlefoot immediately raced out of the garage and sprinted toward the shed. The moment he was inside, Aylene grabbed the doors and slammed them shut. She then turned around, leaned against the doors and let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Well, that's taken care of." She said as she slid down to the floor. "Now if all goes well, we just have to wait for the Time Stone to regenerate again. Then hopefully we'll be able to get back to the Great Valley."

Littlefoot didn't respond to Aylene's statement. He was too intrigued with all the things inside the shed. Although all this stuff was common to Aylene, the longneck looked at all of it like he had discovered a new civilization.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Littlefoot." Aylene shrugged. "You've always wanted to see my world, and you are forced to hide."

"Aylene," Littlefoot smiled, "EVERYTHING in your world is new to me! I've never seen anything like this before!"

The human couldn't help but smirk at her friends enthusiasm.

For the next half hour, Littlefoot wandered around the shed and kept asking what a certain object was and what its purpose was. He practically absorbed everything Aylene told him. And the more he learned, the more he wanted to know.

However, Aylene eventually stood up.

"Listen, Littlefoot," she gently said, "I would like to tell you more, but I really have to get cleaned up. My family will be back any minute and really don't want them to catch me like this."

"Okay." the Apatosaurus groaned, lowering his head.

"Don't worry, I'll be back." the human smiled. "And I'll bring some leaves for you to eat, too. Sound good."

The longneck looked at his friend and nodded.

"I'll be back." Aylene said as she opened the shed door. "Just…stay away from anything that has a sharp point."

With that, she exited the shed and quickly closed the door.

Almost a second later, Littlefoot's stomach growled in hunger.

"I hope its soon." he frowned.

* * *

After she took a long, hot shower. Aylene quickly dressed herself in jean shorts, a red sleeveless, and black sandals. When she looked in the mirror, she winced as she examined her face. She certainly had gotten more of a tan since her last adventure, but the complexion of her skin wasn't what she was focused on at the moment.

"Man, Ozzy got me really good." she mumbled as she touched the scratch on her right cheek.

She then looked at the bite mark on her arm.

"And Chomper got me pretty good, too. I can't let them see these."

Aylene quickly opened one of the drawers and pulled out her mom's make-up bag. She opened it and pulled out some foundation. She unscrewed the lid and began to use the contents to smoother on her cheek. After she covered it completely, she then used the foundation to cover up the mark on her arm.

Once she was done, she tightened the lid back on the bottle and stuffed it back into the bag. She then put it back in the kit back in the drawer and closed it.

"Okay, now I've to get some supper for the sauropod." She thought out loud. "Then I've got to clean out my bag and restock on arrows."

After formulizing a plan, the girl immediately headed for her room and grabbed her bag. After she emptied it, she threw away the granola bar wrappers, unpacked the water bottles and spices, and took her towel out. She then grabbed the water bottles and spices and set out for the kitchen.

Once she put the spices back and emptied the water bottles, she turned around and was about to head for the garage was a voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Aylene, is that you?"

The human jolted around see her brother enter the kitchen.

"AHH, Derek!" she shrieked.

Aylene's older brother blinked and stepped back at her sudden reaction.

"Aylene, are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

"Oh, uh, I'm fine." the girl replied, composing herself. "Um, when did you get back?"

"Just five minutes ago."

"Okay."

"Wait," Derek squinted, "are you wearing mom's make-up?"

"Yeah, why?" Aylene bit her lip.

"Because that color doesn't match you at all and you only have it on one cheek." The boy blatantly stated.

"Oh, well…I just thought I'd try it." Aylene grinned, moving her right arm behind her back.

"You HATE wearing make-up."

"Yeah, well I'm a girl after all. Figured I should try getting used to it. Now if you'll excuse me I gotta go."

"Go where?"

"I…gotta get more sticks and stuff to make more arrows." The girl lied. "Well, I'll talk to you later, bye!"

Aylene then immediately turned around and opened the garage door, slamming it shut as she left.

Derek narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Although Aylene wasn't past doing odd things every now and then, this was too strange, even for her.

"She's up something." he said pensively. "And I'm going find out what it is."


	3. Chapter 3: Hide and Seek

**Hide and Seek**

Looking around quickly, Aylene opened the shed door and quickly carried in two buckets. One filled with water, and the other filled with green leafs that greatly resembled "tree-stars".

"I don't know if you'll like this," she grunted as she kicked the door closed, "but these were all I could find."

"Thanks, Aylene." Littlefoot nodded.

The girl plopped the buckets down on the ground and they landed with a loud "BLONK".

"Uh," the longneck curiously looked at the human, "did your skin change or something?"

Aylene looked down at her outfit and snickered a little. Littlefoot had never seen her in another out than the one with the typical swimsuit and gym shorts get-up.

"No, I just changed cloths." she explained. "It's something we humans do."

"Why?" Littlefoot asked.

"Because when our cloths get dirty we have to change them so the ones that got dirty can be cleaned."

"Why?"

"Just because, okay?" Aylene shrugged.

"Okay." Littlefoot said, sensing Aylene didn't want to talk more about the subject.

Aylene then sat down at the stool in front of a desk with her arrow-making equipment as the longneck sniffed the leafs in the bucket in front of him. He then wrinkled his face. The smell of this vegetation was different from his usual food. Although he wasn't too keen on eating these his hunger was starting to get the best of him.

Hesitantly, Littlefoot took a mouthful of leafs and started to chew. At first, the foreign taste made him cringe. But as he munched on them for a while, the flavor started to become less and less irritating.

"You like those leafs?" Aylene asked over her shoulder.

"They're okay, I guess." Littlefoot said, swallowing the food.

At least this was better than nothing.

As the longneck continued to eat his meal, Aylene started making some more arrows. Grabbing one of the wooden dowels she had gotten at a craft store, she used a whittling knife to make some notches at the end of the shaft. Once she was done, she grabbed some feathers and inserted them into the notches. She then used some string and wrapped it around the feathers, securing them in the shaft.

She then carved a slit at the front of the arrow. After that, she proceeded to take an arrowhead and squeezing it into the shaft. She then took the same string and used it to fasten the arrowhead into the arrow.

She continued to do this process for about fifteen more arrows.

"_Oh man,"_ she miserably though, _"this whole day is the definition of out of the frying pan and into the fire. I just hope I can keep Littlefoot hidden until the Time Stone starts working again. If I can't…I don't even want to think about that."_

As she was about to finish her last arrow, there was a knock on the shed door, making both the human and longneck freeze.

"Aylene, are you in there?"

"Oh, no!" Aylene whispered fearfully. "It's mom!"

"Aylene?"

"Just a minute, mom!"

Desperately, Littlefoot and Aylene looked around for a place to hide the sauropod. Eventually, Aylene noticed a tarp draped over a table. She quickly pointed to it and Littlefoot ran over under the table.

"Just don't make a sound and don't move!" Aylene ordered in a hushed voice, adjusting the tarp so it would cover the longneck completely.

She then grabbed a few large flowerpots and placed them on the middle and the corners of the tarp to secure it on the table.

"Aylene," Elinor called again, "is everything okay?"

"I'm fine!" the girl replied as she darted back to her desk. "Come in."

Elinor opened the shed door and stepped in. From behind the tarp, Littlefoot peeked out just enough to see someone who looked like an older version of Aylene. Her brown hair went down to her shoulders and seemed to flip slightly at the ends. The cloths on her were white, black, and she wore curious things on her feet. The longneck didn't know what they were; he just knew they weren't sandals like Aylene usually wore.

However, Littlefoot did notice that this human had the same bright blue eyes as Aylene did.

"Aylene," Elinor asked, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." the girl replied, getting back to work on her arrow.

Elinor then looked down at the floor and saw the two buckets.

"What are these doing here?" she asked.

"Uh," Aylene nervously bit her lip, "I was…working on a project."

"Oh, what kind of project?"

"It's…a surprise."

"Aylene, are you sure everything's okay?"

"Everything's fine." Aylene clenched. "Why did you come here anyway?"

"Because your brother said you were behaving oddly." Elinor replied.

"Oh, did he." The girl rolled her eyes.

"He said that you used my make-up." Aylene's mother said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I…I just wanted to try it."

"So you put it one side of your cheek AND your arm."

Aylene's eye widened and she looked sharply at her right arm. The foundation that covered up Chomper's bite mark stood out against her skin like a sore thumb.

"I…scratched myself on a branch." she said. "It's nothing serious but I wanted to cover it up."

"Why didn't you use a bandage?" Elinor raised an eyebrow.

"I couldn't find any." the girl tensed her shoulders.

"Aylene," Elinor said, slightly firmly this time, "is there something you want to talk about?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Aylene flinched, becoming pressured by the interrogation. "I'm okay! Now please, I just want to be alone for a while!"

"Now listen, young lady," her mother replied sternly, "don't take that tone of voice with me. Your brother was just concerned about you and so am I."

"Sorry," Aylene grumbled, "it's just…I've got a lot on my mind right now."

"Aylene, I know that you're nervous for school, but it's coming whether you want it to or not."

"_It's not school I'm worried about."_ the girl thought as she glanced at the tarp.

"But if there's anything you want to talk about, you can always come to me, your father, or your brother." Elinor finished.

"Thanks, mom." Aylene frowned. "Can I get back to my arrows now?"

Elinor looked down at the floor and let out a sigh. She then nodded and turned back to the door.

"Supper will be ready in a few minutes." she said. "We're having salmon and rice tonight."

"Okay, mom." Aylene mumbled. "I'll be inside soon."

Elinor glanced back at her daughter for a moment before exiting the shed, closing the door behind her.

"Coast is clear." Aylene groaned as she shoved her arrow away and slumped over on the desk.

Littlefoot pushed the tarp over with his head and walked over to his friend.

"That was your mother?" he asked, sounding a little sad.

"Yeah." Aylene glanced away.

"She seems really nice." the longneck said.

"She is," Aylene sighed, "when she's calm. But sometimes she can go a little overboard when there's a problem or she talking to us about responsibility."

"I think she's just worried about you." Littlefoot stated.

"I know," Aylene buried her face in her arms, "and that's why I hate lying to her and dad. They are so good to me, but…sometimes I feel like I can't talk to them about certain things, this being one of them. I just don't think they'd understand."

"Well," the longneck looked away, "at least you have a mom and dad."

Aylene quickly sat up and looked at Littlefoot. He was staring at the ground with some glistening in his eyes.

The human bit her lip when she remembered that the longneck was an orphan. He watched his own mother die right in front of him and he has no idea what happened to his father. Aylene at least had her parents, but Littlefoot didn't.

"Littlefoot," she said solemnly, "I'm sorry. I just forgot that…"

"No, it's okay." The Apatosaurus shook his head.

For a brief moment, the two of them said nothing.

"Well," Aylene finally stood up, "I better get back to the house before someone comes out looking for me. You think you'll be okay on your own for a while?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Littlefoot nodded.

"Okay," Aylene walked to the door, "I'll come back to check on you before I go to bed tonight."

"Okay, see ya."

Aylene opened the door and quickly exited the shed. She immediately closed the door and began to walk back to the house, looking around cautiously at the same time. Leaving the shed unguarded made her nervous, but if she didn't leave it from time to time, then her family would get even more suspicious.

And one question still haunted the back of her mind: what if someone finds Littlefoot and she's not there to protect him?

"If anything happens to him," she said in a low voice, "I'll never forgive myself."


	4. Chapter 4: The Big Shock

**The Big Shock**

_One Hour Later…_

"And then Brandon wiped out on his skateboard!" Derek snickered.

"Oh dear, is he okay?" Elinor asked, concerned.

"Oh he's fine," Derek shrugged, "but seeing the way he fell was hilarious!"

"Well, sounds like you had a pretty even eventful day." Jonathan smiled. "What about you, Aylene?"

"Huh?!" Aylene jerked out of her trance.

"How was your day?" her father repeated, slightly concerned about her behavior.

"Oh," Aylene looked down at her meal, "uneventful. Just made some more arrows."

"And tried on some of mom's make-up to "cover-up" some "scratches"." Derek teased.

The girl shot her brother a warning glare.

"That's none of your business, Bro." she grumbled.

"Aylene, what's wrong?" Jonathan asked firmly.

"Nothing."

"C'mon," the girl's father crossed his arms, "we all know you wouldn't be acting this way if things were okay."

Aylene looked down at the floor. She had to think of something to say this time, but what? What would be convincing enough for them to believe?

She wrung her hands together and took a few deep breaths before saying:

"I…I don't want Summer Vacation to be over."

"That's what your worried about?" Derek raised an eyebrow. "You are a bad liar you, know that?"

"I'm not a liar!" Aylene snapped.

"_I'm just trying to protect a friend."_ the thought whispered in her mind.

"So that's what's bothering you?" the girl's mother asked.

"Yeah." Aylene answered dully. "I don't want to go back to being called the "Dino Nerd" again."

The next thing Aylene knew, her mom and dad started talking to her about ignoring what other kids say, why school is important, and that she should also make an effort not to talk about dinosaurs so much.

However, she wasn't really listening to them. Her mind kept drifting back to Littlefoot. She was just hoping and hoping she could keep him safe long enough for the Time Stone to start working again. But keeping something like this a secret for a long time wasn't going to be easy.

"Okay," she finally groaned, "may I be excused now?"

* * *

Later that night, Aylene took her flashlight and went out to the shed. By now, the sun had gone down and darkness shrouded the landscape like a blanket.

The girl opened the door to the shed slightly and whispered:

"Littlefoot, it's me!"

"Aylene?" he replied, sounding afraid.

The girl switched the flashlight on and closed the door behind her.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," the longneck emerged from under the tarp, shivering slightly, "it's just a little scary in here at night."

"Oh, sorry." Aylene said. "I forgot how freaky it could get in here."

"Hey," Littlefoot looked at the source of light in Aylene's hand, "what's that?"

"Oh, this is a flashlight." the girl replied, holding it up slightly. "It's what we use to carry light around with us. I can leave it here if you want."

"That would be great." the longneck sighed with relief.

After Aylene grabbed a small flowerpot off the shelf above Littlefoot's hiding spot, she stuck the end of the flashlight and placed it under the table. The light bounced off the bottom of the table and gave a dim glow around the shed.

"I would stay longer," Aylene sadly said, "but my parents are suspicious enough as it is. Not to mention Derek is starting to get on my case. I'll only have to come here when I have to."

"I understand." Littlefoot nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll be back first thing in the morning. But I should get back now."

Aylene hugged her friend goodnight before heading for the door. She was about to open it when Littlefoot whimpered:

"Aylene, what if I do get caught."

Aylene turned around quickly and looked at her friend, trying to conceal her concern.

"You're not going to get caught." she said.

"But what if it does happen?" he asked again. "What should I do?"

Aylene looked down at the ground for a minute.

"I guess…" she said hesitantly, "whatever you do: don't speak. Just don't let them know you can talk."

"Why not?"

"Just trust me on it okay?" she replied. "If the worst should happen, don't let them know you can talk."

* * *

_Day 2, the Next Morning…_

After getting up before the rest of her family and getting breakfast to Littlefoot, Aylene went back into the house and began to search around the house for a breakfast of her own.

When she opened the refrigerator, the first thing she saw was a carton of eggs. The moment she saw them, she quickly closed the door and looked away with a slightly disturbed face.

"After what happened, I don't think I'll be eating eggs for a long while." she mumbled to herself.

Eventually, the girl became content with a plain bagel toasted and topped with cream cheese. As she munched on her breakfast, Aylene began to seriously think about what she was going to do about this situation.

"I should call grandma." she said to herself. "Hopefully she'll know what to do."

* * *

_An Hour Later…_

After she finished her bagel, Aylene took the wireless phone into her room and called her grandmother, Elaine. She told her about her previous adventure all the way up to the part where she and Littlefoot were warped back to this world.

"Are you serious?!" Aylene's grandma exclaimed over the phone.

"Yeah," the girl moaned, "and now he's stuck in this world."

"Oh dear." Elaine sighed. "I thought only humans could pass through the barriers."

"That's what I thought." Aylene replied. "So why did this happen?"

"Well, let's think for a moment. Where you touching him when the Time Stone activated?"

"Yeah. I was clinging to him pretty tightly."

"Then my guess, based on what has happened, is that dinosaurs can't pass through the portals by themselves like humans can, but they can if they are touching a human that has a Time Stone. So when the Time Stone activates again, the same process should work and you'll be able to get him back to his world.

"But what do I do in the meantime?" Aylene stressed. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. Grandma, I'm worried something's going to go wrong. And if he gets caught…"

"Calm down, my dear." her grandmother said. "Just keep him out of sight as best you can. You said you have a hiding spot for him?"

"Yeah."

"Then just make sure he stays there. It'll be okay, Aylene. You'll get through this."

"But I also hate lying to my family." the girl lowered her head.

"I understand, Aylene." Elaine said. "And I can't say I know what's best in this situation, but I do know this: our world isn't meant for the dinosaurs anymore. And I'm sure you know I'm not just talking about the environment."

"Yeah." Aylene nodded miserably.

"Just be careful, Aylene. That's all I can say. I'm sorry I can't be there to help you, but I know you'll get your friend back to the Great Valley."

"Okay, Grandma. I'll do my best."

* * *

For the rest of the day, Aylene was busy sneaking back and forth between the house and the shed. Fortunately, since it was a weekday, both of her parents left for a convention and wouldn't be home until later this evening.

However, to her dismay, Derek decided to stick around. Getting past him proved to be a little more difficult than she previously expected. He seemed to pop up out of nowhere every time she turned a corner, asking her what she's up to.

As usual, Aylene would just say "nothing" and move on with what she was doing before.

It became a really close shave when she walked out of the shed for the fourth time and he was practically standing in front of the door.

"AUGH!" Aylene screamed. "Derek, what are you doing?!"

"Nothing, what are you doing?" her brother folded his arms across his chest.

"None of your business!" the girl snapped. "Now stop watching me like a vulture! You're really getting on my nerves!"

"Okay, fine." Derek shrugged. "Have it your way."

He then turned around and walked away, feeling his little sisters angry eyes burning into his back.

"She is defiantly hiding something." He mumbled to himself. "But if I confront her directly now, she's just going to get even angrier. She's already on a short fuse enough as it is. Well, I guess I'll have to be indirect."

* * *

After Aylene had left again, Littlefoot laid down in the middle of the shed and glanced around the place. He had always dreamed of seeing Aylene's world and imagined what it would be like to live here. Now that he got his wish, he was starting to have doubts about it. This wasn't what he was expecting at all.

Although he didn't know what would happen to him exactly if he would get caught, he had a bad feeling that Aylene did. But because she didn't want to scare him, she wasn't telling him all the dangers. All he knew is that if he was to be caught, he shouldn't speak a word.

"I guess this world isn't what I thought it would be." He mumbled sadly to himself. "And I bet the others back home are worried about me and Aylene. I just hope that Time Stone starts working again soon. I just want to go home."

The longneck then yawned. Due to his lack of sleep the past few nights, and the fact that he couldn't run out and play, he was becoming rather tired.

"I guess a small nap wouldn't hurt. Aylene did say her parents would be gone for a while."

With that, Littlefoot curled up into a ball and fell asleep.

* * *

The sun began to set behind the horizon as Derek emerged from his hiding spot.

After Aylene made another trip to the shed, the boy saw his chance to make a move. He exited the house through the front door and ran around to the side. Watching carefully from the corner, he observed his little sister emerge from the doors, looking around cautiously as she did.

The moment she disappeared into the garage, Derek quickly and quietly made his way toward the shed.

"Let's see what she's been up to." he said quietly, grabbing the door handle.

* * *

Littlefoot stretched and yawned as Aylene's previous visit woke him up. He shook away the drowsiness and looked around the shed. He could see that by the change in light and shadows that he had been asleep for a long while.

He looked over to this right and saw that Aylene had left him some more food and water. He was about to go over and eat it when he heard footsteps approaching from outside the shed.

He stepped back fearfully when the sound of someone fiddling with the door handle reached his ears.

"Let's see what she's been up to." a voice said.

Littlefoot didn't know who the voice belonged to; all he knew is that it wasn't Aylene.

The longneck quickly darted back under the tarp just as the door opened up with an eerie "CREAK". He glanced over just enough to see a tall, muscular figure standing in the doorway.

It had short brown hair, dark blue eyes, and wore a tight, red sleeveless and black gym shorts. On his feet were black sandals and around his wrists were black bands.

Littlefoot bit his lip as the figure walked further and further into the shed. It first wandered over to Aylene's work desk and looked at the pile of arrows she had been working on.

"Quite an overload if you ask me." the person mumbled to himself.

He then glanced over behind and noticed the two buckets.

"Okay, that's more than a little conspicuous."

* * *

Aylene closed the kitchen door and leaned against it. She exhaled deeply as the stress of keeping this secret was really starting to wear her down. She wasn't going to give up on Littlefoot, but she was starting to become angry with herself for constantly lying.

"The moment the Time Stone starts working again," she clasped the stone around her neck, "we are out of here."

Then, as if to respond to her statement, the girl noticed a small flicker just below her. She sharply looked down and a huge smile streaked across her face.

The Time Stone was glowing again!

"Yes! Thank you!" she clutched the stone happily. "I gotta tell Littlefoot!"

Without a moment of hesitation, Aylene threw open the garage door again and raced out again.

However, the moment she got outside, she stopped in horror when she saw the shed door was open!

* * *

Littlefoot's heart began to beat even harder as the person walked all the way back to the back of the shed and stop right in front of his hiding spot. For a long time he didn't dare move a muscle. He didn't even try to breathe. All he could do was stay hidden behind the tarp and hope that this stranger would go away or Aylene would show up.

"_Just keep quiet!"_ the desperately thought to himself. _"Don't move, don't speak! Maybe he'll go away!"_

Suddenly, something moved out of the corner of Littlefoot's eye. He looked sharply around and saw a small strange gray creature scurry across the ground in front of him, squeaking as it did so.

"AUGH!"

Littlefoot jolted in surprise and bonked his head against the table.

He shook his head as the pain rattled his brain.

"What the…!" the person in front of him said in shock.

The next thing the Apatosaurus knew, the tarp flew up and he was staring face to face with another human!

* * *

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

Derek stumbled back, pulling the tarp down at the same time.

Right in front of him was a real live dinosaur!

He glanced over to his left and saw a garden rake. He quickly darted over and grabbed it. Holding it like a ninja warrior, he turned and faced the creature, preparing himself for an attack.

However, the dinosaur just cowered away. And Derek was sure that he saw fear in his eyes. In fact, it looked more afraid of Derek than he was if it.

"DEREK, NO!"

At he sound of his name, Derek turned around in time to see his sister rush in.

"AYLENE!" a small voice cried.

Derek looked sharply around at the dinosaur. Did that longneck just SPEAK?!

Aylene darted between the dinosaur and her brother.

"Derek, don't hurt him!" she shouted, facing her brother.

Derek stared at Aylene for a long time as his mind began connecting the dots.

"_The dirty swimsuits, the snacks and spices missing from the cupboards, and wearing make-up."_

The teenager then looked at the stone hanging around his little sister's neck and saw that it was glowing.

"_Wait, that's the stone Grandma gave her. And she started acting strangely after our last visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house. And the fact there's a live dinosaur in the shed…"_

That's when it fully clicked: that stone was magical!

Suddenly, Derek darted toward the door and slammed it shut. He then turned back to his sister with a glaring face.

"Okay, sister," he said sternly, "since mom and dad aren't back yet, you've got about three hours to tell me WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!"

Aylene stepped back as her brother raised his voice. Behind her, Littlefoot cowered further back into the corner.

"_I am so busted!"_ Aylene fearfully thought to herself.


	5. Chapter 5: Confession and Agreement

**Confession and Agreement**

"First off," Derek harshly pointed at Littlefoot, "what is that dinosaur doing here?!"

"Oh, uh," Aylene bit her lip and stepped back, "he sort of accidentally followed me home."

"FOLLOWED you home?!" her older brother strained. "From where: Jurassic Park?!"

"No, more like "Land Before Time"." the girl replied, nervous.

Cautiously, Littlefoot stepped out from under the table and stood by Aylene.

"What's "Jurassic Park"?" he asked.

"AUGH!" Derek shouted. "It really does talk!"

"He's not an "it"!" Aylene snapped, sticking her arm out protectively in front of the longneck. "His name is Littlefoot!"

"I don't care what his name is, I want to know what he's doing here and how you two know each other?!" her brother shouted.

Aylene and Littlefoot looked at one another with worried faces. They didn't have to speak to each other to know that they were in a sticky situation. Not only will they have to explain how they knew each other, they would have to tell the whole story.

"I'm waiting, Sis!" Derek said through his teeth.

Finally, Aylene took a deep breath and began to relate the story, all the way back to when the Time Stone first transported her to Littlefoot's world.

For the next hour, Aylene and Littlefoot told Derek about their first meeting, how they met Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike, how they defeated Sharptooth, how they got to the Great Valley, and how they met Chomper and reunited him with his family.

"After that," Littlefoot concluded, "we were chased by another T-Rex named Red Claw. Just as he was about to…eat us, Aylene's Time Stone flashed and the next thing we knew we ended up here."

For a minute, Derek didn't respond to their story. He just stared at them with a stern face. Aylene scowled slightly, waiting for her brother to lash out at her.

"So let me get this straight," he finally said, glaring at his sister, "you've been to this world who knows how many times, and you never told anyone us!"

"You wouldn't have understood." Aylene replied in the same tone.

"Oh, I understand all right!" Derek raised his voice, causing Littlefoot to step back. "I understand that you could've been killed! What if you lost the Stone while being chased by that "Red Claw" guy?! Or what if you didn't kill Sharptooth, who you said was called the "Walking Terror" or something. What if he got you instead?! Didn't you or anyone from your "herd" even consider the consequences?!"

"We didn't have a choice!" Littlefoot protested. "If we didn't do something, Sharptooth would've just continued to chase us!"

"Besides, you don't have the right to lecture us!" Aylene shouted. "You weren't even there when it happened!"

"True, I wasn't there," Derek nodded stiffly, "but judging by what you've told me, you guys have a tendency of getting into trouble. And most of the times you've gotten out of trouble you've been lucky."

Aylene glared at her brother even harder.

"And I have to wonder what grandma was thinking when she gave you the Time Stone." Derek said. "And I really have to question her judgment of not telling mom or dad about it."

"You're not going to tell on me, are you?!" Aylene asked fearfully.

"I should," Derek replied, "considering you've lied to them and you can't tell them the truth yourself."

"No, Derek, you can't!"

"I've got to, Aylene, because it's my job as your older brother!"

"What: to be a snitch!" Aylene cried.

"No!" Derek angrily retorted. "To do the right thing for my little sister!"

Suddenly, Derek threw the shed door open and stormed out.

"Aylene!" Littlefoot whimpered.

The girl didn't miss a beat; she immediately raced out of the she and ran to her brother. The next thing Derek knew, Aylene dove for his ankles, causing him to trip. She then climbed on him and wrestled him to the ground.

"GET OFF ME!" he shouted.

"I WON'T LET YOU DO THIS!" Aylene protested.

During the whole argument, the two siblings rolled around in the grass: one trying to knock the other off, and the other trying to prevent her brother from escaping.

"OW," Derek grunted, "Since when did you get so strong?!"

"I won't let you tell mom and dad!" Aylene shouted.

"Don't' try to stop me! You brought this on yourself, Sister!"

"NGH! You don't understand!"

"Understand?! AUGH! You lied to us!"

Finally, Derek flipped Aylene over and pinned her to the ground by the arms. He scowled at her for a brief moment until he saw that there were tears in her eyes.

"It's Littlefoot!" she finally cried. "I just wanted to protect him! He's one of the best friends I've ever had and he's all alone in this world! I just want to take him home!"

The teen boy's eyes widened slightly.

"Please, Derek," Aylene pleaded, "don't tell on him!"

For a moment, Derek stared at his sister with a blank face. He then looked up and saw Littlefoot watching from inside the shed with a fearful expression.

Finally, the boy took a deep breath and let his sister go. Aylene sat up, wiped the tears from her eyes, and stared at her brother with a half nervous, half suspicious face.

"Okay," Derek said in a low voice, "I won't tell, but on one condition."

"What kind of condition?" Aylene asked.

"Next time you go back to that world, I'm coming with you."

"What?!" the girl gasped in surprised.

"I'm going with you this time." Derek stood up. "You get your friend back to his world, and I get to keep an eye on you."

Aylene slowly got to feet as she pondered the idea. For a moment, she was against the idea. This world was HER special place. It was a place where she could be herself without anyone making fun of her knowledge of dinosaurs. She didn't want to share it with anyone, and certainly not her nosy brother who didn't believe she could take care of herself.

But when she turned back and looked at Littlefoot, she frowned. She had to do what was best for him. And if taking her brother with them was the only way to keep him safe, then she was willing to take that deal.

"Fine," she grumbled, "but you're going to need a weapon of some kind as well as proper supplies."

"Fine." Derek stiffly nodded. "So when do we leave."

"The Time Stone is glowing again," his sister stated, "we leave as soon as you're ready, but no later than today. The sooner we get Littlefoot back to his world, the better."

* * *

A few minutes later, Aylene was all geared up in her green two-piece swimsuit, gym shorts, hiking sandels, and gym bag with all her usual essentials like water, granola bars, and a towel. She strapped her quiver around her waist and slipped her bow over her shoulder.

However, when she turned to leave, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She stared at her reflection for a long time, realizing just how long her hair had gotten. It was now a good ways past her shoulders.

She ran her fingers through it, thinking about how it was too long to just be left hanging down. It was probably time she found some way to get it out of her face. It would be pretty bad if it got in her face during the middle of a carnivore attack.

However, she didn't have time cut it. So she did the next best thing. She took a black elastic band and gathered her hair together. Wanting to do a little more with it, she shifted the clump over her right shoulder and made a side-ponytail.

Satisfied with how it looked, she turned away and made her way back to the shed.

When she got to the shed, she went over to her worktable and stuffed a good amount of the newly made arrows in her quiver.

"This time I'll make sure I have enough." she said to Littlefoot. "I don't want to repeat that incident again."

Soon after, Derek entered the shed with equipment of his own. On his back was a black gym back and around his waist was a quiver full of arrows. Over his shoulder was a bow slightly bigger than Aylene's.

"Hold on." Aylene grabbed the arrows out of Derek's quiver and placed them on the table.

"Hey!" he snapped.

"Don't bring modern arrows to that world." the girl gruffly said as she stuffed the rest of her homemade arrows into his quiver. "Once their gone, they're gone. So use these instead. You'll save time and money."

"Fine, have it your way." Derek scowled. "After all, I suppose you're the expert."

Aylene wrinkled her face at her brother.

"Um," the little Apatosaurus said, nervous about the tension between the two siblings, "are we ready to go?"

The girl nodded and placed a hand on his back.

"**Portal Open!"** she commanded.

Immediately, a stream of light shot from the Stone around her neck. The light hit what seemed to be an invisible wall and rapidly widened into a circle. In the center of the circle was a lush green landscape with trees and waterfalls rushing down the sides of enormous cliffs.

"Let's go!" Aylene grabbed her brother's hand.

All three walked in unison through the portal. Once they were through, the opening closed up behind them.

For a moment, both Littlefoot and Aylene smiled in relief, absorbing the sight before them. The fresh air swept all around them and the sun shown down with it's warming rays.

They made it back to the Great Valley!

"We did it!" the longneck laughed happily. "We're back! We're really back!"

Aylene wiped the sweat from her forehead and let out a long sustained exhale.

"Thank goodness." she said. "Now I can finally relax."


	6. Chapter 6: New Conflict

**New Conflict**

Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike had been searching the Great Valley for Littlefoot and Aylene ever since they grown ups came back and asked where aforementioned longneck and human were. All they could say was that they ran off to find something important. This prompted both the adults and children to search the Valley for both of them.

"Where do you think they could be?" Ducky asked.

"Knowing those two, they probably got into some kind of trouble." Cera replied, pushing a large rock around with her horn. "Why does all the fun stuff happen to them?"

"Me don't think getting chase by sharp-teeth is considered fun." Petrie commented.

Cera groaned and knocked the stone away with a large push.

"I wonder if they founded Chomper and if they're okay." Ducky said. "I do, I do."

"I'm sure they're fine." Cera said. "You know it takes a lot to keep anyone from our herd down. Besides, Littlefoot's with Aylene and she'd never let anything happen to him."

"Still, I wish I knew where they were." the little swimmer sighed.

"C'mon guys, cheer up," the Triceratops smirked, "We'll find them. In the meantime…Spike, head's up!"

Cera hit the rock again over to Spike. The Stegosaurus grunted happily and used his head to roll the rock down the hill. The group chased after the boulder and Cera was about to reach it when a foot stomped down onto it and it came to a stop.

The threehorn frowned, looked up and saw three older dinosaurs staring down at the Gang with smug grins.

"Hyp." Cera groaned. "What are you doing here?"

"What are YOU doing here?" the Hypsilophon mockingly replied.

"We're looking for our friends." Ducky replied.

"Really," Hyp sneered, "because it seems to me that you were just playing with a rock."

"Yeah, just playing with a rock." Nod repeated.

The Nodosaurus then looked up at the third member of their gang, waiting for him to say something. It took the Muttaburrasaurus a moment to register the message.

"Oh," he said, "uh…Yeah!"

"Just give us back our rock, Hyp!" the Triceratops snapped.

"But I didn't hear you say "please"." Hyp picked up the boulder and pulled it away.

"That's because I didn't!" Cera growled angrily.

Hyp replied the action with a growl of his own. Ducky, Petrie, and Spike all started to become nervous about the situation. The last time they saw Cera fight with anyone was with Littlefoot on their journey to the Great Valley. They knew perfectly well how vicious she could be in a fight. But Hyp was older and bigger than she was; at least Littlefoot was the same age and roughly the same size.

However, their anxiety was almost completely washed away when a familiar voice came to their defense.

"What's going on here?!"

The Gang turned around and their faces lit up.

"Aylene! Littlefoot!" Ducky squeaked.

Despite the fact they were also confused as to see another human among the group, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike happiness for the fact that they're friends were safe and sound and coming to rescue them made them overlook the fact for a moment.

"Hey, guys." Aylene nodded, walking past them up to Hyp and his gang.

"What are you doing here, Hyp?" the girl glared.

"Oh, not you again." the Hypsilophon groaned.

"Glad to see you remember me." Aylene sarcastically replied. "Now what have I told you about picking on my friends?"

"You don't control us, human." Nod said bluntly.

"Yeah," Aylene glared at the dinosaur, "but my friends are under my protection: you mess with them, you mess with me. And you do NOT want to see me when I get angry. Now give them back the rock!"

"And what are you going to do if I don't: use your arrows on us?" Hyp mocked.

Aylene just responded taking in a deep, irritated exhale. As much as these guys annoyed her, she knew she couldn't use her archery against them. They were still residence of the Valley and she would never use her skills against anyone who lived here.

"That's what I thought." The dinosaur smirked.

Suddenly, something pushed Aylene aside and she stumbled back for a moment. She looked up to see her brother marching up to Hyp and his gang.

"Derek!" she said with alarm.

The boy ignored his sister and scowled at Hyp instead.

"Listen here, dino," he snapped, "I don't know who you guys are, but you leave my sister alone!"

"Great." Hyp groaned. "Just what we need; another human. Who are you suppose to be, anyway?"

"I'm Aylene's older brother." Derek replied. "So get this straight: no one messes with my little sister but me!"

Feeling extremely embarrassed, Aylene face-palmed herself. This was EXACTLY why she didn't want Derek to come along. He was too overprotective and he didn't seem to think she could handle the situation. She's faced at least four T-Rexes in her life, and one of them was a deranged monster after her and her friends out of vengeance. Surely, she was more than capable of handling these three bullies without her brother marching in and taking control over something he knew nothing about.

And above all, she HATED it when he called her his "little sister". It made her sound like a child that she wasn't.

Littlefoot saw Aylene's reaction and became concerned. He may not have known Derek for very long, but even he could sense that there was still some tension between the two siblings.

"Oh, so you like to play with a bunch of babies, too." Hyp mockingly grinned.

The Gang sharply looked up when they heard the insult.

"Babies?!" Cera shrieked. "Who's he calling babies?!"

"Us." Ducky sheepishly replied.

"We're not babies!" Aylene said harshly. "We may be children but we're certainly not babies! Not to mention, I'm about the same age as you three!"

"Oh yeah," the Hypsilophon, "but you still like to hang around these runts. Why don't you hang out with the cool kids for once?"

"Because they're my herd!" Aylene replied firmly. "And I don't care about being "cool"!"

"Well, that's your loss then." Mutt mocked.

Aylene just wrinkled her face at the Muttaburrasaurus.

Suddenly, there was a low rumbling sound and the ground began to violently shake.

"Whoa!" Hyp looked around. "What's that?!"

"Up there!" Petrie pointed to the sky.

Against the peachy blue sky, some red dots began drawing closer to the earth below. Pretty soon, rocks that seemed to be on fire began to shot down from the heavens like rain.

"It's a meteor shower!" Derek shouted. "Run!"

Completely forgetting about the feud, the two gangs immediately set out running in opposite direction. While Hyp and his friends sprinted away in a panic, the Gang split up and raced to find their families, crying out for their guardians.

Derek grabbed Aylene's hand and darted away as a large tree toppling over barely missed them. Seeing his friend and her brother in danger, Littlefoot raced up beside them.

"Get on!" he shouted.

Immediately, Aylene leapt onto the longneck's back with Derek following her motion, leaping on behind her. Because of another rider on his back, Littlefoot found that he was having a more difficult time running away than usual. Especially since this new rider had never ridden a dinosaur bareback before.

Derek tightly gripped his sister's shoulders as the dinosaur ran off, trying to prevent himself from slipping off. Aylene winced as his hands squeezed around her shoulders, but she still held on with all the might she had. She had rode Littlefoot many times in the past, now was no different.

All around them, meteors continued to shower down from the sky. They glanced up to see a really large one fly overhead and disappear behind the Great Wall. The moment it vanished from their sight, the earth shook with a violent tremor even more and a giant plume of rocks and dirt erupt from where the stone landed.

Everywhere, herds of dinosaurs ran for shelter, flyers flew from their nests in the cliffs just as rocks became rattled loose and crushed the ledges below them. Big trees snapped at the base and fell over with a loud "CRUNCH".

"Littlefoot! Aylene!"

The longneck whipped his head around and saw his grandparents on the edge of the forest.

"Guys, hang on!" he said as he ran off toward the elder Apatosauruses.

The moment the small group reached them; there was a loud "CRACK". Everyone's attention soon became fixated on a large tree swaying back and forth, threatening to fall over on the dinosaurs.

"Look out!" Grandpa Longneck shouted.

As the tree fell over in their direction, Littlefoot made a large, desperate jump just as it landed right behind them. The moment he came to a halt, Aylene lunged forward off of his back and landed on her back on the ground. She tumbled for a few feet before coming to a stop.

"Aylene!"

Derek leapt off of Littlefoot and ran over to his sister. Aylene lifted herself and shook her head. A small taste of iron fill her mouth and she whipped red liquid away from her lips.

"Aylene!" Derek knelt down and helped his sister up. "Aylene, are you okay?!"

"I'm fine." Aylene replied.

"You sure?" Littlefoot asked as he ran over.

"Don't worry about me." Aylene brushed the dirt from her arms. "I'm fine."

"Littlefoot!"

Everyone turned as Grandma and Grandpa Longneck walked over and lowered their heads, nuzzling their grandson. Littlefoot happily returned the gesture.

"Oh, Littlefoot." Grandma Longneck sighed. "Where have you been?"

"That's a bit of a long story." Littlefoot looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry I worried you guys. Aylene and I didn't mean to go missing for two days but…"

"Two days?" Grandpa Longneck said, slightly puzzled. "You and Aylene were only reported missing just earlier today."

"Wait," Aylene squinted slightly, "Earlier today? Is this the same day when the T-Rexes attacked?"

"Yes." Grandma Longneck nodded. "Why do you ask?"

Littlefoot and Aylene exchanged both surprised and relieved faces. This was the same day when the two of them wandered into the Mysterious Beyond to see Chomper safely away. It was the same day the Time Stone saved them from the jaws of Red Claw. Hardly any time had passed in this world while two days passed in Aylene's world.

Both friends let out long sustained sighs and gave small grins.

"Well, you guys seemed to have lucked out again." Derek smirked.

"Oh, who are you?" Grandma Longneck asked when she saw the male human.

"I'm Derek," the boy gave a sharp wave, "Aylene's older brother."

"Ah, yes." Grandpa Longneck nodded. "Aylene's mention you a few times. What are you doing here?"

"Because he couldn't keep his nose out of other people's business," the girl glared at her brother.

"Littlefoot," the female longneck looked at her grandson, "what is this all about?"

Both the longneck and girl looked at each other with slightly distressed looks before looking down at the ground. They would have to tell the truth.

"Well, here's what happened…" Littlefoot began.

For the next few minutes, the two gave a brief story about their previous adventure. However, some details they changed like following Chomper to see that he got safely to his parents. Instead, they said that Aylene wanted to make sure the T-Rexes were out of the Valley completely and Littlefoot followed her. Before they could get back, the wall had been sealed and another T-Rex named Red Claw found them.

When Derek was about to correct their story, Aylene shot him a look that basically said, "don't say a word and I'm not kidding".

They then continued by explaining how the Time Stone had saved them, how Aylene hid Littlefoot while he was stuck in her world, how Derek found Littlefoot and found out about their story, and the agreement the two siblings made.

"And that's why he's here." Aylene concluded.

"Good gracious!" Grandma Longneck exclaimed.

"I'm so sorry, Grandma." Littlefoot hung his head low. "I don't mean to make you worry. And I promise this won't happen again."

For a moment, the two elder saruopods looked at each other with perplexed and worried faces. Littlefoot and Aylene nervously glanced at each other, waiting for what the grown-ups were going to say.

Finally, Grandpa Longneck let out a deep exhale and turned back to the children.

"Well, while I don't condone your actions for wandering out into the Mysterious Beyond without our protection, the important thing is that you're both alright. Just be more careful in the future. We don't want to repeat this again."

"Yeah." Aylene nodded. "I don't want to have to go through that stress again."

"And thank you for saving our grandson, Aylene." Grandma Longneck gently nudged the girl with her snout.

"No problem," the girl smiled.

Aylene then turned to look at her brother. He still looked somewhat shell-shocked by this new world. Which is probably why he wasn't giving a lecture on why she and Littlefoot should be punished. But for some reason, he remained silent.

The only moment he spoke again was when he looked up to the sky and pointed.

"Look, an aurora!"

The others turned to where the male human directed them. Streaked across the heavens like the shines on gemstones were waves of golden lights. They stood out among the twilight lit sky and seemed to sparkle with streams of ruby red lights.

"It's beautiful!" Littlefoot said.

"Yes, Littlefoot," Grandpa Longneck sighed, "Beautiful. And mysterious, as is so much in our world."

"Well, at least the danger has past." Grandma Longneck said. "Now come. It's time to get some rest."

The group slowly walked back toward the longneck's nesting ground, too tired to carry on a conversation. When they reached it, the sun had disappeared behind the Great Wall and the sky began to grow dark. As the elder longnecks plodded over to their resting place, Littlefoot wandered over to his nest and plopped down. Aylene walked over and leaned against his side, curling up into a small ball as she did.

Derek, however, picked out a small place of his own next to a large boulder and leaned against it, pulling his legs in and folding his arms across his chest.

"Will he be okay?" Littlefoot asked.

"You don't know Derek." Aylene replied. "He can sleep just about anywhere at anytime. One time he slept right through a thunderstorm directly over our house."

The girl then yawned.

"Well, good night."

"Good night." Littlefoot replied with a yawn.

With that, the two friends fell asleep.

Derek, on the other hand, didn't drift off to slumber just yet. So much had happened in one day that he still needed some time to process it. He was now in a world full of giant, talking dinosaurs, his sister knew all of them by name and they all knew her, and she seemed to be much more confident than before. Although he would never consider his sister to be a coward, she had never shown this much bravery before in anything.

Like now, they had just escaped an earthquake and avoided getting crushed by trees and rocks, yet she was able to fall asleep as if it never happened.

The boy glanced up at his sleeping sister and let out a small sigh.

"Are you the same Aylene I used to know?" he whispered to himself. "Or are you a stranger to me now?"

Derek shook his head as his eyelids became heavy. It was late and he was exhausted. He should get some sleep. Maybe things will be better in the morning.

With one last tired yawn, Derek leaned back against the rock and his eyes eventually closed. Sleep overtook him and he dozed off.


	7. Chapter 7: Thundering Falls

**Thundering Falls**

Well, things were a little better in the morning, aside from feeling a little stiff after sleeping against a rock all night.

Derek slowly got up and stretched his limbs. He looked out over the Valley and saw that the sun had just begun to rise above the giant rock walls. Thin clouds wisped across a pale blue sky and a gentle breeze swept across the land. The boy blinked as he remembered that he wasn't in his world anymore. He was in a world that was only known by his younger sister.

Aylene slowly opened her eyes and sat up. Yawning, she stretched her arms and turned to her friend.

"Hey, Littlefoot," she said, shaking him slightly, "wake up."

The longneck groaned and slowly raised his head. His eyes drowsily opened and he looked back at his friend.

"Ugh, good morning, Aylene."

"Good morning, yourself," the human smirked.

Aylene then looked over at her brother as he stood up and brushed some dirt off his arms.

"Sleep alright, Bro?"

"Oh yeah," Derek rolled his eyes, "there's nothing more comfortable than a solid rock."

"A dinosaur is more comfortable, you know." Aylene folded her arms across her chest.

"I find that hard to believe." Derek frowned.

"Try it next time," his sister replied rather snobbishly, "you'll thank me later."

"Yeah, right," the boy rolled his eyes.

"Alright, that's enough." Grandma Longneck said as she and her husband walked over to the group. "Now c'mon, it's time to go to Thundering Falls."

"Thundering Falls?" Derek raised an eyebrow.

"It's the Valley's main waterfall." Aylene explained. "It provides the majority of the water supply. It's also the largest one in the Valley."

"Well, I guess coming here a lot, you would know all about it, wouldn't you?"

"You bet. So if I were you, I would doubt my knowledge."

Littlefoot shook his head slightly, but kept quiet as the group made it's way toward the Thundering Falls.

As far as the Apatosaurus could see, these two humans really didn't get along very well, which greatly confused him. They were brother and sister. A family. Shouldn't they be getting along instead of arguing all the time? Ducky and Spike had more siblings than Aylene, and he never saw the swimmer argue with them as much as Aylene argued with Derek.

As far as Littlefoot could see, the only thing they didn't argue about was their names.

Then again, Littlefoot didn't have any brothers or sisters, so what would he know about feuding siblings? Aylene was the closest thing to a sister that he had and even then they never really had any major arguments. Sure, they had small disagreements, but that's as far as it went. Maybe it was because the two had so much in common that they had no reason to argue.

As for Derek, Littlefoot didn't want to be judgmental about the boy. At the same time, he didn't want to excuse what he saw him do to Aylene or that fact he almost exposed the longneck to other humans back in that world.

However, he did see how concerned Derek was when they were telling him their story about Sharptooth, which he couldn't blame him for that. When Littlefoot and Aylene told the longneck's grandparents about their encounter with Sharptooth, they were both proud and worried at the same time. The only difference was that Derek kept looking at the danger aspect while Grandpa and Grandma Longneck focused on the fact that Sharptooth was gone and the kids were okay.

But yesterday, Derek stood up to Hyp and his gang when they started disrespecting his sister. This gave Littlefoot the notion that he's just very protective of his sister and wants to make sure she's okay. However, he still seemed distant and sour about being here.

At the moment, the Apatosaurus didn't know what to think of Derek.

A few minutes later, the small herd reached the Thundering Falls where they found many other dinosaurs. Some were wading around in the water, either enjoying the coolness of the water or eating the vegetation that grew below the surface, while others were standing on the edge having a drink. Swimming around under the rippling waves large fish that looked vaguely like salmon.

While the longnecks grazed on the greens in the water, Aylene caught a fish for both her and her brother to eat. As every minute passed, Derek became secretly impressed with his sister's skill and knowledge. She knew which fish to catch, she knew how to build a cooking fire, and she knew which spices to use for flavor. This really started to make him realized just how often she had been to this world.

After Littlefoot had finished his breakfast, he began to playfully splash around in the water, laughing happily. Aylene smiled as she watched her friend.

"This place is really peaceful," she randomly said.

"I admit it is pretty cool," Derek shrugged, "but I still have reservations about it."

"I thought you would," Aylene frowned, "but what's it going to take to change your mind?"

"You know I'm just as stubborn as you are."

"Oh, I know that."

"I'm just here to make sure you stay out of trouble and…"

"SHH!"

"Aylene, you can't…"

"No, quiet! Listen!"

Derek stopped and did what his sister told him to do. There wasn't a sound to be heard except for a slight rippling of the water. Other than that, it was rather quiet.

"I don't hear anything," he said.

"Exactly." Aylene turned around and pointed.

At that moment, all the dinosaurs turned and looked in the same direction. They all gasped in horror when they saw the Thundering Falls was rapidly drying up. Strands of water trickled down the rock and gradually got less and less until all that was left were wet stones.

Suddenly, the herd of dinosaurs erupted with worried voices.

"Where did the water go?"

"It stopped flowing!"

"How can that be?"

"What will we do without water?"

Littlefoot, who had already seen the situation, turned to his grandparents with and confused expression.

"Grandpa, why did the Thundering Falls stop?"

"I don't know, Littlefoot," the elder replied, masking his concern, "I don't know."

"Littlefoot," Grandma Longneck said, "go and play. Grandpa and I must talk with the other grown-ups."

"Sure, Grandma."

Littlefoot immediately raced out of the water and over to Aylene and Derek.

"Aylene," he said, "we gotta find the others!"

"You read my mind."

The girl then turned sharply to her brother.

"You stay here!" she forcefully ordered.

Before Derek could protest, Aylene leapt onto the longneck's back and he sprinted away. The boy clenched his fists in frustration and grunted. All he was trying to do was look out for his little sister and she was making things difficult. Now that she was in this world, she was acting as if she was the one in charge, and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not.

Frustrated, Derek turned away and walked over to the adults. Since he was stuck in this world he might as well try to help.

* * *

"Littlefoot," Aylene suddenly said," something just occurred to me: we haven't told the others about what Ozzy and Strut told us."

The moment the human said that, Littlefoot immediately remembered what happened that day. Or rather, what happened earlier the day before today.

* * *

"_Let's just say that if they catch you two or any of your friends, YOUR defeat will be seen as a sign of honor among the sharp-teeth." Ozzy said._

"_Sharptooth was known as the "Walking Terror." Strut replied. "And by defeating HIS defeaters, whoever does will be considered the next one."_

* * *

"Yeah, I remember," the longneck moaned.

"We should tell the others right away." Aylene stated.

"But what about the Thundering Falls?"

"We'll tell them that, too. But we have to tell them about the carnivores hunting us immediately since it concerns all six of us."

"You're right. Let's find them."

Littlefoot ran up a hill and came to a stop. Just a little ways into a small, not-so-dense forest were Ducky, Petrie, and Spike. They were standing by a short hollowed out tree stump, looking at it with curiosity. Ducky, who was standing on Spike's back, leapt off of him and into one of the empty branches.

"Hey, guys!" Littlefoot shouted, running toward them.

When he came to a stop, Aylene slipped off his back.

"Guys, we gotta tell you something," she said with slight urgency.

"Shh!" Ducky whispered as she poked her head out of the hollowed out branch. "We are trying to find Cera. She had hided from us."

"But…" Littlefoot was about to protest when Petrie flew and perched on the stump.

"Ugh," he groaned, "me no find Cera anyway."

"Cera is a very good hider, she is." Ducky commented.

At that moment, a pile of large, palm tree-like branches rustled and a pair of eyes peeped out.

"BOO!"

Every jumped as the branches flew to reveal a large, yellow object. The unexpected surprised caused Ducky to fall out of the tree and Petrie to fly away, bumping into Aylene's head.

"I scared you!" Cera playfully gloated. "I scared you, I did!"

"You no scare me, Cera!" Petrie snapped. "Me unscareable!"

The flyer then gulped, trying to hide his fear.

"Petrie," Aylene said with a squished nose as the flyer tightened his grip on her skin, "you're hurting my face!"

"Oh!" Petrie shrieked, letting go of her. "Sorry, me no know my own strength."

The Pteranodon then swooped over and landed on Spike's back.

"Now who's going to hide?" Cera asked before looking over at the longneck. "Littlefoot."

"Okay," Littlefoot replied, "but first we gotta tell you something."

"Well hurry it up." Cera said. "We wanna play."

"Seriously, guys," Aylene stepped forward, "it's important. It's about Sharptooth."

The moment she said that name, Aylene knew that she had gotten the whole Gang's attention.

"What about him?" Cera asked, slightly nervous.

"Well," Aylene explained, "you know Littlefoot and I went to find Chomper, right?"

The group nodded.

"Well, it turns out that the T-Rexes were really here to find him."

"Wait, he's their son?" Ducky eyes widened slightly.

"Yeah," Littlefoot nodded, "we followed them until they got safely out of the Valley. We were then confronted by Ozzy and Strut."

"The egg-stealers?" Cera shrieked.

"Yeah," Aylene said, "However, since I unintentionally saved their lives from another pack of carnivores, they have stopped chasing us. But they also gave us a warning."

"What kind of warning?" Petrie asked.

Aylene glanced at Littlefoot for a brief second before taking a deep breath and saying:

"Carnivores in the Mysterious Beyond are hunting the six us."

Everyone froze.

"Apparently they DID find out about our victory." Aylene slowly continued. "And now we're seen as prizes if they ever catch us. I know this is a lot to take, but it's best if you all know now. And don't worry too much. As long as we stay in the Great Valley, we'll be okay. We have the adults to protect us and it's not very easy to find an entrance into here unless you know where to look."

"Still," Cera finally said, "that's still scary to know we're being hunted."

"I know," Aylene nodded, "but it's going to be okay, I promise."

For a few minutes, there was a moment of silence as the group tried to absorb this terrifying information. For the longest time, they had always thought that no one except for those in the Great Valley would know about their victory. Now the realization that predators knew what they did was very unnerving.

But Aylene was right about one thing: as long as they stayed in the Great Valley, they would be okay.

"Well," Littlefoot suddenly spoke up, breaking the tension, "now that you know, we have something else to tell you?"

"What is it?" Cera groaned.

"It's Thundering Falls," the longneck explained, "something's happened to it and it's not giving us any water. Come and see."

The group was about to set out back toward the waterfall when a pair of familiar and rather unpleasant voices behind them mockingly said:

"Why don't you hatchlings go run and see!"

"Yeah, run and see, run and see."

The Gang turned around and saw Hyp, Nod, and Mutt walking up behind them. Well, Hyp was actually riding on Nod's back while Mutt holding a palm tree branch over the leader's head for shade.

After Nod had spoken, Hyp glared up at Mutt, waiting for him to say something.

"Oh," Mutt immediately answered, "uh, yeah!"

"Are you guys following us?" Aylene stepped forward, slightly angered.

"What if we are?" Hyp mocked again. "What are YOU going to do about it?"

"How much of our conversation did you hear?" the human suspiciously asked.

"We came in at the part when you said that sharp-teeth are after you guys." Nod replied in the same tone as Hyp did.

"That's none of your business!" Cera snapped.

Aylene, on the other hand, gave a small almost unnoticeable sigh of relief. At least they didn't hear the part about Chomper. At least she hoped they were telling the truth about their point of eavesdropping and they didn't here about the little T-Rex.

"I bet you guys just love the attention." Hyp said in a snarky tone. "After all, you six defeated the "Walking Terror"."

"We prefer to have normal lives, thank you very much." Aylene folded her arms across her chest. "Besides, it's not like we boast about it."

Hyp jumped off of Nod and landed directly in front of the human girl, while the others stepped back, Aylene stood her ground. The only thing she did was flinch a little.

"And one thing I can't figure out is why you want to hang out with these hatchlings." the Hypsilophon said firmly. "You're the oldest by several years."

"What's your point?" Aylene glared.

"You're just a protector for them." Hyp replied. "They're too small to take care of themselves so they rely on you for protection. Just like with the sharp-teeth that came through here yesterday."

"Tyrannosaurus Rexes, you mean." Aylene corrected.

"Whatever," Hyp shrugged, "I just know that you had to protect them again. I bet they're just using you."

"That's not true at all!" Littlefoot protested.

"You're darn right it isn't." Aylene stated. "We're a herd and that isn't going to change. I don't care what you say, Hyp: I'd rather face a pack of Velociarptors than turn my back on my friends."

"Besides," Cera marched forward, "you talk about us being small. But when you grow up you won't be very big at all. You're kind never gets very big. When WE grow up, we'll be much bigger!"

"Uh-huh! Uh-huh!" Ducky nodded. "Much, much, much, MUCH bigger."

"Oh yeah!" Hyp viciously glared. "Well, I'm going to see to it that you never grow up!"

"Is that a threat?" Aylene snapped.

"What do you think?" Hyp growled.

"If it is," the human jabbed a finger at the dinosaur, "you can bet that you'll have an unpleasant visit from me! And I'm not kidding! I've stood up to plenty of T-Rexes, and I'll stand up to you!"

Aylene then turned around and walked back toward her friends.

"C'mon guys," she said, "let's get out of here."

As the group walked away, the girl glanced back over her shoulder at the bullies.

"And you three better not follow us!" she shouted.

The Gang continued to stroll down toward the hill and towards the river.

"Thanks for standing up to Hyp, Aylene." Petrie said.

"I've stood up to at least four T-Rexes in my lifetime," the girl shrugged, "he's not that big of a problem. He and his friends think that just because they're big they can do anything they want. But I know that being big and growing up means being more responsible. Plus, my parents always said that growing up isn't the same as becoming bigger and stronger, and I believe them."

Aylene then started to giggle a little.

"What's so funny?" Cera asked.

"Oh, I was just thinking." Aylene replied. "When you guys said that you would be much bigger than Hyp and the other two. Well, you all are going to be bigger than me, too. I'm almost at the size of a full-grown human."

"Really?" Ducky said, slightly surprised.

"Yeah," the human girl replied, "and someday I'll be looking up to you guys, literally."

The group laughed at the comment.

"Still," Littlefoot then said, "you don't have a problem with being small, right?"

"Not at all." Aylene smiled. "After all, you should never judge a thing before you know what's inside it. I maybe small, but I'm far from weak."

"You got that right." Cera smirked. "We ALL are fall from weak. And if we're strong now, we'll be even stronger when we've grown up."

The whole group nodded, feeling a small swelling of pride in their souls.


	8. Chapter 8: Bad Influence

**Bad Influence**

Derek stood beside a large Iguanodon and glanced around the group of dinosaurs as they gathered around the dried up waterfall. He then looked at the river and saw that the water level had dropped significantly. In fact, that was the whole reason the adults were meeting in the first place.

Grandpa Longneck walked into the center of the group as they formed a crescent shape around their leader. The older Apatosaurus turned and faced the residence of the Great Valley.

"As you can all see," he said, "our Valley is quickly drying up."

"Yes," a bird-footed dinosaur replied, "We see it and feel it as well. There is less and less water to drink."

"And the Valley's vegetation is becoming scarce." Derek pointed out.

"I know," Grandpa Longneck solemnly nodded, "that is why our herds must work together to save the little water we have left. From now on, we must drink only what we need to survive and no more."

"You won't have worry about me and my sister," the human boy said, "We brought water of our own to drink. And we can also go back to our world if we run out."

"Thank you, Derek," the elder longneck replied, "Hopefully soon Thundering Falls will bring us water again. If not…" the mighty animal sighed sadly before saying, "we may have to leave the Great Valley."

The moment Grandpa Longneck said the idea of leaving the place was mentioned, every dinosaur in the group gasped in shock and starting protesting against it.

"Leave the Great Valley!"

"Never!"

"It's our home!"

"Then until the water returns," the Apatosaurus calmly said, "we must use the remaining water we have left unwisely."

"Huh!" Topps grunted. "Threehorns never waste water, but your herds do!"

"Our herds?" an Ankylosaurus sounded offended as he marched over to the Triceratops, "What makes you think our herds would do such a thing?"

"You drink greedily with no concern for others." Topps replied, sounding like a know-it-all.

Shocked by the Triceratops' accusations, the other dinosaurs started talking angrily among themselves. Derek's face darkened slightly when he realized who this Triceratops was. He must be Topps: the "threehorn" that was constantly belittling his younger sister.

"Well, I've seen threehorns waste!" the cubtail shot back.

"What!" Topps shouted.

"You take long baths even when you're the least bit dirty!" the dinosaur then turned to the Iguanodon standing next to Derek. "And I've seen your kind waste, too! Splashing water needlessly, for shame!"

This resulted in the group spiraling out into an argument of muffled shouts and yells.

"HEY!" Derek shouted as loud as he could. "ARGUING ISN'T GOING TO SOLVE ANYTHING! HEY, LISTEN TO ME!"

No matter how hard the boy yelled, the dinosaurs around him could hear him.

Great, now he was being ignored by Aylene's dinosaur "friends". He seemed to be getting ignored by a lot of people ever since he came to this world.

Come to think of it, where were Aylene and her friends? He hadn't seen her and Littlefoot since this morning and it was already late afternoon. Given the reputation she had of getting into trouble easily in this world, he soon found himself getting worried.

"DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE THE KIDS ARE!" he finally shouted at the top of his lungs.

At that moment, all the adults stopped arguing and turned to look at Derek. Now that the human mention it, they hadn't seen the children all day.

* * *

Down by a small pool, Littlefoot, Aylene, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike were sitting around the shore of the water, completely unaware of the level steadily dropping. Aylene had taken off her gym bag, bow, quiver, and sandals and placed them under a nearby bush.

"So you saw Aylene's world?" the Triceratops' cried.

"Yeah, but it was kind of by accident." Littlefoot explained. "Still, it was unlike anything I've ever seen before. Humans really ordinary things and blend them together to make something. And almost every thing was really shining. They even made their own caves out of rock and wood."

"I think you mean houses." Aylene corrected.

"Yeah, what you said."

"That sound amazing!" Petrie squawked, "Me want to see Aylene's world!"

"No, Petrie!" Aylene protested with a noticeable strain in her voice.

"Trust me, guys," the longneck quickly defended the girl, "Aylene's world was amazing, but it's not meant for us. Remember when she explained that there are no dinosaurs her world? I had to hide in one of those small caves the whole time I was there."

"But you guys were only gone for a while." Ducky replied. "You were, you were."

"Yeah, in this world's time," Aylene said, "but in my world we were gone for two days. And during that time, it was getting harder and harder to keep Littlefoot hidden. Eventually, my brother found him and was going to tell my parents until we made an agreement. And that agreement is the reason why he's here now."

"Still, I want to see your world, too" Cera replied. "C'mon, just a small visit. It'll be fun."

"Sorry, Cera," the girl shook her head, "but I can't. I don't want to put your lives at risk like that. Besides, it's not like Littlefoot and I had a choice, the Time Stone just acted on it's own."

"I'm with Aylene on this one." Littlefoot nodded. "My visit there wasn't fun, it was scary. And Aylene doesn't need the stress of trying to hide all five of us. It's best if we just remain where we are. This is our world and we belong here."

"Thank you, Littlefoot." Aylene exhaled. "Now, let's just get back to playing, okay?"

"Hey!" Cera protested. "You can't just tell us of an amazing adventure and just drop it like that!"

Aylene casually stood up and walked a little ways into the pond.

"Maybe," she turned around, smirking, "but I can do this!"

The next thing the Triceratops knew, Aylene quickly bent down and hit the surface of the water with her hand, splashing her in the face. Cera stepped back in surprise and shook her head, causing droplets of water to splatter onto the ground. Aylene laughed at the threehorn's reaction. After Cera recovered, she fixed the human girl with a playful grin.

"Okay, Aylene! You asked for it! Now you're going to get it!"

"Oh, you gotta catch me first!" Aylene teased.

Aylene and Cera both screamed and laughed as the Triceratops began to chase her into the pond. That set off a chain reaction and the rest of the Gang followed, chasing and splashing each other. Pretty soon, the whole Gang was soaking wet but where happy. It had been a while since they could just enjoy spending time together ever since before that quicksand incident not to long ago.

"Hey!" Cera suddenly said. "Let's play bullies. I'll be Hyp!"

The Triceratops then jumped in front of Littlefoot and said in a poor Hyp impression:

"I'm going to get you!"

"Not if I get you first!" Littlefoot playfully retorted.

Cera laughed and rushed past the longneck. Littlefoot chased after her, kicking up a lot of water as he ran through the pond.

"Me wanna play bullies, too!" Petrie said.

The flyer then landed on a rock beside Spike, who was happily lapping up the cool liquid.

"Hey, hatchling," Petrie snapped, trying to sound nasty, "you know eat MY green food!"

Aylene looked over in time to see Spike gather a mouth full of water and spray it in Petrie face. She couldn't help but laugh at the spiketail's unexpected action and Petrie's reaction of flailing back and spitting out water.

"You should do that next time we run into Hyp, Spike!" Aylene chortled.

The Stegosaurus chuckled at Aylene's comment, smiling slightly with pride.

"Hmph," Petrie brushed some water off of his wings, "me go play bullies someplace else."

The next thing anyone knew, Petrie walked right off the rock and into the water with a "SPLASH". He immediately surfaced again and scrambled back onto the rock. From behind, Ducky emerged from the surface and looked at the flyer.

"Petrie," she said, "you are a flyer, not a swimmer."

The Parasaurolophus giggled happily at her observation. Petrie, on the other hand, sighed miserably.

"Me no bully either," he said, frustrated.

"But I am!"

Everyone froze for a moment when they heard the new voice. They all then sharply turned around to see Hyp and his gang standing on a large boulder above them. The young dinosaurs and human all groaned miserably at the sight of these bullies.

"Didn't I tell you not to follow us?" Aylene said sternly.

"You did, and we didn't listen." Hyp mocked. "Thought you and these hatchlings could play in our swimming hole, huh?"

"Why?" the human snapped. "Why are you always picking on us? Not that I want you to pick on anyone else, but why do you always go after us?"

"Oh, so you guys think your so special, don't you!" Hyp sneered. "Oh yeah, you six defeated Sharptooth, the most dangerous of all sharp-teeth. Yeah, that's such a great honor!"

"Wait…" Aylene scowled, "Sharptooth?! That's what this is all about?! That's why you bully us?!"

"What else?" Hyp replied. "You guys are just tiny hatchlings and you are suddenly famous all because you braved the wilderness on your own and happened to defeat the "Walking Terror"! And you stand up to two more sharp-teeth! Practically everyone knows about you guys even if you aren't showoffs!"

"Yeah, well, deal with it, Hyp!" Aylene barked. "But it's not all fun and glory for us, you know! Just be grateful you're not on predators most wanted list!"

"Heh," the bully dinosaur smirked, "with someone like you walking around the Valley, who needs "predators"?"

"Come down here and say that to my face!" the girl shouted, raising her fist in the air.

"Aylene, calm down!" Littlefoot quickly said, nervous about his friend's rising ire.

"Should we go down there Hyp?" Nod asked.

"Be my guest, Nod." Hyp nodded.

Suddenly, the Hypsilophon pushed the Nodosaurus, making him lose his footing. The Gang below gasped as the giant armored dinosaur starting toward them.

"RUN!" Littlefoot shouted.

The others made dash for shore. Aylene only had a second to react, so she managed to make a desperate dive out from under Nod, who landed in the water with a huge "SPLASH"! A large sprinkle of water flew out of the pond and splashed on Topps, who was approaching out of the brush towards the pond with the rest of the adults. Seeing the old threehorn get splashed caused the grown-ups to laugh.

In all the fuss, Aylene tripped on a rock in the pond and fell over, dunking completely under the surface. Pain shot through her head and quickly lifted herself up out of the water. She immediately started coughing up water and rubbing her face in irritation.

Hyp, Nod, and Mutt noticed the grown-ups approaching and quickly made their exit.

"See ya!" Mutt waved.

"Wouldn't wanna be ya!" Hyp mocked.

Aylene shook her head and droplets of water splattered from the tip of her ponytail and created ripples when the made contact with the others.

"Oh man, I got water up my nose!" she groaned.

The girl heard the sound of laughter and looked up. The moment she did, her stomach dropped.

Almost all the adults were coming toward the pond, and her brother was among them.

"It's not funny!" Topps angrily shouted. "Now someone splashed me and wasted precious water!"

Aylene slowly stood up and began to walk out of the pool of water toward her friends. She shivered slightly and rubbed her arms as a slight breezed licked at the liquid covering her body.

"Aylene, are you okay?" Littlefoot asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," the human mumbled before looking back up at the grown-ups, "but I also think I'm in trouble."

Trouble was the best word she could come up with. But when Aylene looked at the elder dinosaurs looking at her with disappointment, particularly Topps, she was starting to think that word didn't even come close to the situation she was in.

"Your sister is guilty of wasting water!" the old threehorn snapped at Derek.

The boy only gave a brief scowl before turning to his sister.

"Aylene, what happened?" he asked with a slight sternness in his voice.

"It was an accident, Derek!" Littlefoot defended.

"I was asking Aylene, Littlefoot." Derek replied.

"What he said, Derek," Aylene glared slightly, "it was an accident."

"I'm sure it was," her brother replied in a low voice.

From behind, Grandpa Longneck stepped forward.

"Our children don't understand the water problem," he calmly said, "the Great Valley has always given them everything they need."

"What are they talking about?" Cera asked among the Gang. "What water problem? Isn't Thundering Falls coming back?"

"I don't know." Littlefoot shrugged.

"Well, it should!" Cera stomped the ground with her forepaw. "Why shouldn't it?"

"Maybe it is tired and needs to rest." Ducky suggested.

"Waterfalls don't get tired, Ducky." Aylene replied. "It might be blocked up or something."

The group then turned back to the grown-ups as Derek spoke up.

"Then it's up to all of you to teach your children how to use the remaining water wisely," the boy said.

"Speak for yourself, human!" Topps replied harshly. "My Cera would never waste! Your sister is a bad influence!"

Derek flinched and his face turned to anger. NO ONE had the right to call his sister a "bad influence", especially this old grump.

"That's not true!" Grandpa Longneck rebuked.

"C'mon, Longneck!" Topps snapped. "Every time Aylene is around, our children get into trouble! She brings it with her wherever she goes!"

Aylene shrunk back at the statement. As much as she felt angered by the accusation, she also felt a stab of guilt in her chest. Her friends did have a habit of getting in an out of trouble, was it really all because of her? Did she really get them into trouble, even if it's by accident?

"Come, Cera," Topps ordered to his daughter, "You are not to play with the human anymore."

The Triceratops turned to walk away. Cera looked back at Aylene with a shocked face.

"But Daddy…" she started to protest.

"My friend," Grandpa Longneck interjected, "I think your acting rashly. Aylene is not to blame."

"Hmph!" Topps grunted. "I said, come, Cera!"

"No!" Cera shouted and rushed over to Aylene.

"Cera," the threehorn said sternly, "I'm your father and I know what's best for you."

Aylene knelt down in front of Cera, who was shivering.

"I think you better go," the girl said sadly, giving Cera a small hug.

The threehorn sorrowfully walked away from Aylene, whimpering. When she approached her dad, they two of them walked away. Aylene stood up and frowned, not taking her eyes off of Cera until she disappeared over the hill.

Up in the sky, Petrie's mom circled around the Gang.

"Petrie, it's time to go home!"

"Okay," the flyer waved good-bye to the others before taking off.

"Come, Ducky!" Ducky's mother called. "Spike, you, too!"

The little swimmer and spiketail looked back at Aylene for a moment.

"Do not worry, Aylene." Ducky smiled. "You are not an "influence", whatever that is."

Soon, the two ran over to their caregiver and the family walked away, leaving Aylene alone with Littlefoot, Grandpa Longneck, and Derek.

"Just let me get my things," the girl sighed.

She walked over the push where she hid her bag, sandals, and archery equipment.

"You two go on ahead." Derek said to the longnecks. "Aylene and I need to talk."

"Very well," Grandpa Longneck nodded, "Come along, Littlefoot."

As the two Apatosaurus walked away, Littlefoot glanced back over his shoulder at his friend.

"I don't understand, Grandpa," he said, "Why does Cera's dad think Aylene is bad?"

"Oh, he's just confused, Littlefoot." Grandpa Longneck shook his head calmly. "Sometimes fear makes grown-ups do strange things."

"Then I wonder if Aylene is afraid of something."

"What makes you say that?"

"She's been acting really strange ever since yesterday. I know she's protective, but she seems to be going to far with it. She seems to be angry. I don't know what's wrong with her, but I am worried about her."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you Littlefoot. Let's just hope she calm down soon."

* * *

"What do you want, Derek?" Aylene said sourly, slipping her last sandal on her right foot.

"Gather your things, Sis." Derek replied sternly. "We're going home."

"What!" Aylene shrieked. "But we can't leave now! My friends need me!"

"This isn't our problem!" Derek said firmly.

"It IS our problem!" his sister shot back. "They're running out of water and you know it! We have to help them somehow!"

"This isn't our world! We shouldn't be messing around in it! We're going home where we belong!"

Aylene grabbed her bag and threw it on her shoulders.

"You're just like everyone else!" she started to get teary-eyed. "You don't know a thing about me!"

"Aylene, that's not…!"

"No! You don't know anything about me! You don't know what I've been through! You don't get teased at school because you can spout out information about dinosaurs! YOU get perfect scores! YOU'RE the team leader! YOU'RE the first-born brother!"

"That's enough, sister!" Derek angrily clenched.

"You just want to go because YOU don't belong here!" Aylene shouted, strapping her quiver around her waist and grabbing her bow. "But I do! HERE I can be myself! HERE I have true friends who have been with me through all the troubles!"

"So you'd prefer these animals you've only known for a few weeks over your own family who you've known your whole life!"

"They ARE my family, too! And I'm not leaving them in their time of need! And I'm especially not leaving if you're going to tell on me when we get back!"

"I've GOT to do it Aylene and you know it! You can't tell mom and dad and it's not fair for them to be in the dark about this! And I also expect for you to give the stone back to grandma!"

Aylene stepped back in horror. That was the most painful thing her brother could've said. Although he didn't say the words, the implication was clear: he didn't want her to come back here ever!

"NO!" the girl shouted. "You can't control my life! You can't stop me from coming back here!"

"You just don't get it, do you!" Derek shouted back. "You're not the same Aylene I once knew! And it all started when you started coming here!"

"People change, Derek!"

"And you've changed for the worst! You've become such a huge brat!"

"Well, you've become a nosy brother who can't mind his own business!"

"I'm trying to protect you, that's what older brothers do!"

Tears of anger ran down Aylene's face and the rage that was building up inside of her finally erupted.

"THEN I WISH YOU WEREN'T MY BROTHER!"

Derek stepped back in shock. That was probably the worst thing anyone had ever said to him. Hurt sliced through his chest and his mouth ran dry.

Aylene sobbed as she made dash toward the tall reeds.

"Aylene, wait!"

But the girl didn't stop. She ran into the reeds and disappeared among the field.

"Oh, no." Derek groaned.

The boy then sank to his knees and braced himself up with his hands. Since no one was around, he felt very little shame as tear started for fall down his face and to the ground below.

* * *

The walk home for Cera was a miserable one. If she was still in the mindset she was when she first met the human girl, then she probably wouldn't feel too bad about walking away from her. But now, she felt a horrible wrenching in her heart.

"I don't understand, Daddy." Cera sobbed.

"You need friends who know how to behave." Topps said sternly. "Especially in times like this."

"Aylene is my friend! She'll always be my friend!"

"Cera, I'm your father, I want what's best for you!"

"NO YOU DON'T! YOU JUST DON'T WANT ME TO HAVE ANY FUN!"

Suddenly, Cera darted away and vanished in the sea of tall reeds.

"Cera, please!" her father pleaded. "I'm just trying to…well as a parent I...OHHH!"

Topps walked away both angrily and sadly, unable to find the words to communicate.

* * *

Cera sobbed as she raced across the Valley as the sun began to set behind the mountains. How could her father do this to her? How could he blame Aylene like that? Why was he behaving this way?

At the moment, she didn't care; she just wanted to get as far away as she could. She just wanted to be alone.

Suddenly, she skidded to a halt when she heard the sound of someone weeping. She immediately recognized the voice and ran over in the direction it was coming from. After the got through a tall brush of grass, she looked over to a small cave with tree roots hanging over it. Behind the roots was Aylene curled up in ball with her face buried in her knees and trembling.

When Aylene heard the sound of rustling grass, she looked up and saw Cera. The two friends didn't even have to say anything to show that they were happy to see each other; or that they were both very upset.

The little Triceratops rushed over and the human welcomed her with open arms. They two embraced each other like they had long ago when they first began their friendship, only now they were both crying.

Although they were exhausted and downhearted, the two friends soon found themselves drifting off to sleep with Aylene resting against Cera's side.

At least they weren't alone.


	9. Chapter 9: Insight

**Insight**

"Littlefoot! Littlefoot, wake up!"

The little longneck groaned as something roughly shook him. He slowly opened his eyes, yawned, and raised his head. The light of the early morning sun caused him to blink for a moment. When his eyes adjusted, the Apatosaurus looked over to see Derek on his knees beside him. His face looked drawn and pale and his eyes were rather droopy.

"Derek?" Littlefoot mumbled. "What are you doing here?"

"Have you seen her?" the boy urgently asked. "Is she here? Please tell me she's here!"

"Who?" the longneck asked, groggy.

"Aylene!"

"No, she's not here."

"Well, did you see her at all last night?"

"Last time I saw her, she was with you."

"She was, but then we got into an argument and she ran off! I've searching all night but I can't find her anywhere! Littlefoot, you have to help me find her, please!"

"Okay, I'm coming."

Littlefoot stretched his limbs and slowly stood up. He walked beside Derek as they began to make their way across the Valley, searching high and low for the boy's sister.

"What did you guys argue about?" Littlefoot finally asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Derek cast his gaze down.

"Why not? It might make you feel better. And maybe I can help."

The human boy looked at the longneck for a moment. Finally, he let out a deep sigh.

"I told her we were going home and that she wasn't allowed to come here anymore," Derek admitted. "I guess that really set her off. She got so mad that she said she wished I wasn't her brother."

Littlefoot's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Aylene said that? That didn't sound like Aylene at all.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"She said, "I wish you weren't my brother"; how confusing is that?" Derek groaned.

"Oh, dear," Littlefoot shook his head, "I knew Aylene was getting angry but I didn't think she would do something like that."

"Ugh, I just wish I knew what happened," the boy sighed heavily.

"You guys just got frustrated with each other," the longneck replied.

"No, I mean I wish I knew what happened to my sister."

Littlefoot looked at Derek with a concerned expression.

"She said I didn't understand her," Derek explained, "but how can I when she doesn't talk to me? She used to talk to me about almost anything, but now she just shuts people out and I don't know why. At first I thought it was because she started coming here."

"Why does she shut people out?" the longneck asked.

"I don't know," the boy shrugged, "the only thing I can think of is that she gets a lot of grief at school from kids because of her interest in dinosaurs."

"Yeah, she did mention something about being called a "Dino Nerd" back in her world by other kids." The longneck recalled.

"Oh, and I probably didn't help things." Derek face-palmed himself. "But how can I help her when she never talks to me? I'm not a mind reader. And when I do ask her what's wrong, she bites my head off. Not only that, she seems to have become more aggressive than before. I mean, sure, we've had arguments and disagreements in the past, but nothing like this. I just want to know what happened to the sister I once knew."

For a moment, the two friends didn't say a word. Littlefoot looked down at the ground, trying to make sense of what Derek was saying. From what he could tell, the boy really cares about his younger sister, but was just having trouble communicating it to her.

There must be something that Littlefoot could do to help. But what could he do?

Then the thought occurred to him: when he and Aylene told Derek about their journey to the Great Valley, they only told the basic story but never went into details. And if Aylene wasn't going to tell him, then Littlefoot decided that he would.

"Derek," he said slowly, "there's something I think you should know."

The human looked at the longneck. He sounded really serious.

"Remember when we told you about Sharptooth chasing us?"

Derek nodded.

"Well, there are some details we didn't tell you. During our first encounter with the T-Rex, I got caught in some vines when we were escaping through a thorn bush. Sharptooth almost had me in his jaws and there was nothing I could do to get away. Aylene could've saved herself, but instead she ran back and cut me free. I could tell she was scared out of her mind, but she still came back to help."

Derek blinked.

"During our second encounter, I was caught again," the Apatosaurus gazed across the Valley with a dazed look, recalling the past. "Only this time it was right under Sharptooth's foot. He was going to end me right then and there, but Aylene gathered up all her courage and shot at him, allowing me to escape. Then when we had our final fight with him, Sharptooth was going to knock her off her rock, but I hit him with a rock. When he came after me, Aylene shot him just in time."

The human stared at the longneck with his face becoming even more surprised.

"I'm saying this because at the start of the adventure, she didn't look as if she would have the courage to stand up to that monster." Littlefoot continued. "But somewhere along the line, she changed. Rooter did say that she would find her courage someday, and I think she found when she saw that we were in danger."

"I…didn't know that." Derek said, somewhat shell-shocked.

"Yeah," Littlefoot nodded, "and I think the reason why Aylene was being so aggressive before was because she was trying to show you she could take care of herself. But…because she's been protecting us for so long, I think she's forgotten what it feels like to be protected. It's actually a pretty good feeling knowing someone is looking out for you, but she rarely gets to experience it because she's always protecting us."

"I guess so," the boy looked down at the ground, "I just wish she would understand why I worry about her. And it's not just me who's worried about her; mom and dad are concerned, too."

"It's because you're all family," the Apatosaurus said, "I understand. I know Grandma and Grandpa worry about me because they care. And I can always talk to them if I have a problem. But Aylene seems to be missing someone to lean on when times get rough, she's just too proud to admit it. I know she has the five of us, but I don't think it's the same. She's strong, but even she needs somebody to lean on. You know, someone to help her fight."

Derek looked at Littlefoot with a slightly surprised expression.

"Are you sure you're a kid?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?" Littlefoot raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Because your very insightful for your age." Derek commented.

"I just try to pay attention," the longneck gave a small smile.

The human chuckled a little.

"You know something, Littlefoot," he scratched the back of the longneck's head, "you're alright."

"Thanks," Littlefoot laughed, "so are you."

At that moment, Littlefoot and Derek heard a soft crunch and looked down. The Apatosaurus had stepped on a dried up leaf and it crumbled right under his paw. Derek knelt down and examined it as Littlefoot backed up slightly. While leafs in the Great Valley did crumple sometimes when dinosaurs stepped on them, it wasn't usually like this. The leaf was crushed into a million tiny pieces, or at least it looked like a million pieces.

"I was afraid of this," the boy said in a low voice.

"Afraid of what?" the longneck asked, nervous about the tone in Derek's voice.

"Because Thundering Falls has stopped flowing, the Valley is becoming as dry as a bone." Derek explained. "Water is becoming more scarce and the leafs are starting to get overheated by the sun. Not to mention the air is dry and it hasn't rained for a while. This is just the time for a forest fire to most likely strike."

"A forest fire!" Littlefoot gasped.

"Yeah," the human boy nodded, "we're going to need escape paths in case that happens."

"We have escape paths," the Apatosaurus explained, "Grandma and Grandpa showed Aylene and I where they are. We've also discovered some when we explored the Valley on our own."

Derek let out a sigh of relief. At least his sister knew the Valley well enough that she could find a safe way out of danger. And apparently, she also knew were the best hiding spots were.

"I just hope she's okay." Derek bit his lip.

"I'm sure she's fine." Littlefoot replied reassuringly. "We'll find her. I just know we will."

The boy nodded and then yawned. By now, his lack of sleep was catching up with him and he was starting to feel exhausted.

"Hey, Littlefoot," he said groggily, "can I ride on your back for a while? I'm really tired."

"Sure," the longneck nodded.

Pretty soon, Derek found himself slumped over on the Apatosaurus. By now, exhaustion had fully taken over and he soon fell asleep despite the sun shining down on them.

Aylene was right; he could fall asleep anywhere at anytime.

Littlefoot walked along at a steady pace, making sure the human didn't slip off his back. By now, his opinions of Derek were starting to change. Although he came across as strict when they first met, the boy didn't seem so bad after all. He was just a brother who really cared about his sister, and for good reasons. He was just having trouble expressing his concerns to his sister.

As for Aylene, Littlefoot began to see why she was so angry before. It was her way of trying to show her brother she could take care of herself. But she was missing something: letting someone help her take care of herself. And now that he knew this, the longneck began to wonder if he could help mend their bond.

He knew they would have to apologize to each other. That was something he couldn't do for them. But maybe he could help them understand each other's point of view. He already saw both sides of the story, and he communicated Aylene's half of it to Derek, now he could probably communicate the Derek's half to Aylene.

Then maybe the could finally understand each other.

"You guys will make it all better," the Apatosaurus whispered, "I just know it."


	10. Chapter 10: Regroup

**Regroup**

Although Littlefoot didn't have the same sense of time as Derek did, he could still tell that the boy on his back had been asleep for the whole morning. The sun was very high in the sky when Derek shifted his position and groaned. The human slowly opened his eyes and sat up with a dazed expression on his face.

"Ugh," he mumbled, "how long was I out?"

"Well," Littlefoot replied, "the sun was just rising when you went to sleep, now it's almost directly high in the sky."

"Oh," Derek said flatly.

He then slipped off of the Apatosaurus back and staggered for a moment before regaining his balance. The boy stretched his arms and yawned, waking up his limbs.

"What did I miss?" he asked.

"Not much," the longneck replied. "I just tried to find a small breakfast, but most of the leafs had been dried out. And they taste horrible. I did manage to find something, but now I'm thirsty."

"Then you should get a drink." Derek suggested.

"But what about the drought?" Littlefoot pointed out. "Shouldn't we save the water?"

"Well, we could ask for drink," the boy shrugged. "No harm in asking, right?"

"I guess not. Let's go."

The two friends walked down a path through the forest until it opened out to the edge of the river near the dried up Thundering Falls. The first thing they noticed was that the water level had dropped significantly. The river had thinned out so much that they would have to practically climb down into the pit to reach the water.

"That doesn't look good." Derek said.

"You still think it's a good idea to ask for permission?" Littlefoot nervously asked.

"There's no harm in it," the teenaged boy replied, "I'm sure whoever is guarding the water will be understanding."

Suddenly, a booming voice came from behind.

"What are you two doing here?!"

Both Littlefoot and Derek turned around sharply to see Topps marching up toward them with a slightly angry look on his face.

"I take that back," the human mumbled before addressing the Triceratops. "You don't have to scare us like that, Topps. Littlefoot just wants a drink."

"It's not his turn to drink, human!" Topps stopped just a few feet away from them.

"What do you mean "not his turn"?" Derek raised an eyebrow, slightly angered

"We agreed that we would all herd must take turns drinking at the watering hole." Topps sharply said. "Longnecks' turn for water is when the sun touches the Smoking Mountain."

"Look," Derek narrowed his eyes slightly, "I have nothing against herds taking turns, but I don't think it should include the children. That isn't fair for them."

"There is no fair when it comes to survival!" Topps snapped. "Now I'll have to ask you two to leave!"

"Now you listen to me, Triceratops…!"

Derek didn't get to finish his sentence because at that moment, the ground started to vibrate with small tremors. He turned around and saw Littlefoot's grandparents walking up a large path through the forest toward the riverbank.

"Littlefoot," Grandpa Longneck said, "there you are. Where have you been?"

"Well, Derek woke me up this morning and he asked me to help find Aylene." Littlefoot explained.

"Aylene?"

"She and I…got into a fight yesterday and she ran off." Derek looked down at the ground. "I was up all night looking for her. I thought she might have gone back to you guys, but I guess she didn't. Littlefoot agreed to help me look for her but so far we haven't found her."

"Ahem!" Topps interrupted. "That's very unfortunate, but you forgot to mention that you were going to have some water, and that it's not your turn!"

"Oh, be quiet!" Derek snapped.

Everyone was taken aback by the boy's sudden outburst. Even the elder Triceratops could see that this human was both irritated and slightly angry.

However, Littlefoot didn't have much time to think about what was going on because at that moment, he heard a small voice call out his name.

"Littlefoot! Over here!"

The longneck turned around and was a little surprised to see Aylene and Cera crouching low behind a log.

"Hurry!" Aylene commanded in a hushed voice, sharply gesturing with her hand.

Littlefoot cautiously looked back at the grown-ups and older human boy. He then slowly took a few steps away from the group, hoping that they wouldn't see him slinking away. When he was out of sight, he darted toward the log and leapt over it. The moment he was on the other side, he, Aylene, and Cera quickly darted off into the forest.

* * *

"You judge us wrongly and you know it!" Derek argued.

"I'm only doing what needs to be done!" Topps shot back.

"But this is going too far!" Grandma Longneck replied firmly.

"I'll say," the human boy nodded. "Just like when you accused my sister of being a bad influence!"

"Don't sass me, human!" Topps scowled. "You're not the one who has a daughter you want to protect!"

"True," Derek narrowed his eyes, "but I do have a sister I want to protect! Different situation, same principle!"

"You also haven't had to stand up to predators in your life!" the Triceratops said sternly. "You don't know what it means to stand tough!"

"Now that's not true!" Derek jabbed his index finger at the Triceratops. "I may not have faced T-Rexes and the like, but I've had to stand tough through hard times! But you aren't being tough, you're just being mean!"

"Call me mean all you want, human!" Topps snarled. "But I'm going to make sure we all have enough water!"

After watching the threehorn and human, Grandpa Longneck calmly spoke up.

"How about we work out a compromise?"

"No!" Topps harshly replied. "We must be firm!"

"Can't we agree on anything?!" Grandma Longneck said firmly.

* * *

After the trio was safely out of the adults' hearing range, they stopped in the middle of the forest to catch their breath.

"Oh!" Cera grunted. "What are we going to do about the grown-ups? They're acting way like babies!"

"And it's not just them." Aylene replied. "Nearly all the adults in the Valley are starting to become irritable."

"It's all Thundering Falls fault!" the Triceratops stamped the ground with her forepaw. "If we had more water this wouldn't be happening!"

At the mention of more water, Littlefoot's face lit up with enthusiasm.

"That's it, Cera!"

"What's it?" the threehorn asked.

"Water!" Littlefoot explained. "If we find some, the grown-ups will stop being mad!"

"Maybe," Cera frowned, "except for my dad. He's always mad."

"So is my brother." Aylene bitterly mumbled.

"Guys," Littlefoot said sympathetically, "I know you're having some issues with your families and I know they seem kind of grumpy, but I'm sure it's because they're so worried about the water."

"Cera's dad, maybe." Aylene looked up sourly. "But my brother just wants me to do what he says. But I'm not a child anymore. Now come on, let's find the others and look for some water."

"Cera," Littlefoot turned to the Triceratops, "do you think you can look for the Ducky, Petrie, and Spike. I need to talk to Aylene about something."

Cera looked suspiciously at the longneck for a moment. Judging by the look on her face, Littlefoot was sure she was going to start an argument. Instead, the threehorn sighed and nodded.

"Okay, we'll meet you guys at the place Aylene and I hid last night. Just don't be too long."

With that, the little Triceratops took off running through the forest.

"What's wrong, Littlefoot?" Aylene asked.

"Aylene, your brother was looking for you all night last night." Littlefoot said.

"Oh, really?" Aylene frowned, irritated.

"He was really worried about you."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Aylene, I'm serious!" Littlefoot said more firmly. "He was worried sick about you. And frankly I can see why considering that you never told him much about your adventures!"

"He wouldn't understand!" Aylene replied harshly.

"I don't think so," the longneck said. "And I think it was unfair that you said you hated him."

"I didn't say that!" Aylene shrieked.

"Derek told me that you said you wished he wasn't your brother." The Apatosaurus glared slightly. "That's basically the same thing! I can't believe you said something like that, especially to a member of your own family!"

Aylene stepped back in shock. She suddenly remembered the fight she and her brother had yesterday. She did say that, didn't she? And the look on Littlefoot's face didn't make her feel better. Then again, that probably wasn't what he was trying to do. If anything, he was trying to confront her as to why she said that in the first place.

"Did Derek tell you that?" she asked hesitantly.

Littlefoot nodded.

"I didn't mean it," the girl hung her head sadly. "I was just angry."

The longneck's face turned form stern to concerned.

"Aylene, why are you so angry lately?" he asked.

The human looked up, surprised by the question.

"You know you can talk to me." Littlefoot said kindly. "And…Derek's not the only one who's worried about you. But it's only because we care."

Aylene looked away and rubbed her arm.

"It's just…" she bit her lip, "ever since Ozzy and Strut gave us that warning about…I just don't know if I can protect you guys. I hate feeling so vulnerable. I thought that if I could hide it, act tough and show I'm not vulnerable, and then even I would believe that I'm strong enough to take on any challenge. But the truth is…I'm terrified."

The girl shut her eyes, trying to prevent the tears welling up from falling.

Littlefoot stared at his friend for a long time. In all the time he knew Aylene, she rarely ever admitted when she felt weak. This confession confirmed his suspicions: Aylene did want someone to lean on. However, it wasn't because she was too prideful to admit it, but she had this idea in her head that she alone was responsible for all of them and was putting the weight of their safety solely on her shoulders. And now that they had the news of being predators' main target, she was feeling that weight even more.

It wasn't that she was mad at her brother: she was scared and her fear was being masked by anger.

Littlefoot then walked up to his friend and gently nudged her face. Aylene looked at the longneck.

"I understand," the Apatosaurus said softly, "I know that we all make bad choices or say things we don't mean when we're mad, scared, or stressed. But I think it's because of this reason that you should open up to Derek. Because when you're afraid, he's afraid for you, too."

"Littlefoot…"

"I know you want him to trust you." Littlefoot continued. "And I think he will, if you show that you trust him, too. You know, you two are more alike than you think. You just need to listen and talk to each other. Your brother does love about you, Aylene. And I know you love him, too. And now that he knows about this world, I truly believe he can help you both here and in your world if you give him the chance."

Aylene took a deep breath. She then embraced Littlefoot around his long neck. The Apatosaurus placed his head over he shoulder for a hug.

"I'm sorry." Aylene whimpered. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Littlefoot said. "But I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"I know," Aylene slowly pulled away, "But…I'm not really ready to face him yet."

"I understand." the Apatosaurus replied. "Tell you what, let's join up with the others and look for some water. After we find some, then you can talk to your brother. I'm sure you'll be ready by then."

Aylene fiddled with her hands for a moment before slowly nodding. She would have to look her brother in the eye sooner or later; she just wanted some time to think about what she was going to say.

With that, the young human girl leapt onto the longneck's back and they set out through the forest toward the meeting place.


	11. Chapter 11: Search and Soul Search

**Search and Soul Search**

The sun had set by the time the whole Gang rendezvoused at the place Aylene and Cera found last night. They all huddled under the small trench behind the tree roots that protrude from the ground above them.

"You know," Aylene shrugged, "this place is kind of cozy. We could probably turn it into our own personal clubhouse."

"What's a clubhouse?" Petrie asked.

"Think of it as a meeting place for a group friends," the girl replied. "And in this case, it's our secret meeting place. Now, are we all here?"

"Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky nodded. "We are all here!"

However, the moment the swimmer said that, she looked around. That's when she realized one member of the group was missing.

"Oh no," she said. "We are not all here. Where is Spike?"

"Well don't as me," Cera shook her head, "he's not my brother."

"Oh, Spike!" Ducky softly called out. "Where are you little brother?"

At that moment, a gurgling, rumbling sound slowly grew louder. Everyone turned in the direction where it was coming from and saw a strand of leafs dangling from a branch swaying back and forth in a rhythmic pattern despite the fact there was no wind blowing.

"What that?" Petrie shivered. "It sound like monster!"

"Do no worry, Petrie." Ducky calmly wandered over the source of the noise. "That is no monster. That is Spike."

"Spike?"

"That is his sleeping sound. C'mon, I will show you."

The group followed the little swimmer over to the branches. Sure enough, there was Spike, curled up against the dirt wall and just happily sleeping. The breath he gruffly exhaled was what was swaying the branches at a steady rate.

"You're right, Ducky." Littlefoot chuckled.

"Man, he snores worse than my dad." Aylene smirked.

"Well, we gotta wake him up because it's going to take all of us to find more water," the longneck replied.

"I think it's also going to take all of us to wake Spike up, too." Cera sarcastically said.

Ducky already approached her adoptive brother and tried to shake him awake. However, she was much smaller than the Stegosaurus, so all she could do was give a small nudge. On top of that, everyone knew that Spike was a very heavy sleeper.

"Wake up, Spike." Ducky cheerfully ordered. "This isn't "nap time", this is "get up"."

Aylene moved forward and then roughly shook Spike's shoulder.

"Spike, it's time to get up," she commanded in a soft voice. "We have to find more water for the Valley. You do want to help, don't you?"

The spiketail winced and groaned as the shaking of his shoulder as his eyes slowly opened. He then moaned and looked up at the others, not really happy about being woken up. Not to say that he was mad, he just looked disappointed.

"Sorry, Spike," Littlefoot shrugged, "but this is important. We just have to find more water."

"We better." Cera piped up. "Because if our parents stay mad any longer, I'm just going to scream."

"Well, just don't scream now." Aylene said, getting to her feet and brushing some dirt off her knees. "Or else you'll wake up the whole Valley and we're trying to be discreet. Now, what's the plan on finding more water?"

"Simple," the longneck said, "we'll just smell for it."

"Oh, yes." Ducky clapped her hands. "Smell for it with our noses. I know how to do that."

"Well, that's going to have to be up to you five." Aylene replied. "I don't have a keen sense of smell like you all do. So I'll have to follow you this time. Still, I'll do my best to be on the look out."

The human girl then turned and looked out over the Valley from their small hiding place.

"The moon is just starting to rise and the Valley has become quiet. That can only mean the herds have settled down for the night." She stated before turning to the group and grinning. "Are you guys ready for another adventure?"

"YEAH!" the five dinosaur children replied eagerly.

"Then let's move out!"

On that command, the group immediately left their little gathering trench and headed into the Valley, hoping that their efforts would at least allow them to locate at least enough water to make the adults stop arguing.

* * *

Exhausted, Derek followed Grandpa and Grandma Longneck back to their nesting ground. When they had settled down for the evening, Derek leaned against the male Apatosaurus's left foreleg and slide down to the ground, letting out a big exhale.

"That Triceratops is such a pain," he said out loud.

"Now, Derek," Grandpa Longneck replied calmly, "you mustn't get too angry with him."

"How can I not? He insulted my sister and now he's being a complete jerk about this drought. What gives him the right to boss other people…or I guess in this case "dinosaurs"…around?"

"Derek, you have to understand that Mr. Threehorn isn't a bad guy. He's just…confused. And I bet he's also conflicted. He's been through more than you know."

"What do you mean?"

The old longneck's expression turned to solemn and he looked away sadly.

"I'm not sure he'd like it if I told you," he mumbled, "but something happened on the journey to the Great Valley."

"Aylene and Littlefoot did tell me that there was an earthquake that separated them from you guys." Derek said, unsure of where Grandpa Longneck was going.

"Yes," the elder Apatosaurus nodded, "but something else happened after that. Your sister wouldn't know about it because she and the other young ones weren't there. But after the Great Earthquake, we all set out to find the Great Valley, hoping our children would meet us there eventually if at all. Somewhere along the way, we met up with different herds, Mr. Threehorn's family included. Pretty soon we became a large group. We decided to make decisions together, no one opinion outweighing the other.

"However, there was one member who wanted to be in charge of the herd rather than a part of it. For some reason, he convinced some of the others that he would lead them to the Great Valley, making them believe that he wouldn't lead them astray."

Derek shifted his position slightly.

"What does this have to do with Topps?" he asked.

"Well, before part of the herd was lead away, Mr. Threehorn and his wife had an argument. I don't know all the details, I just know that it was enough to make her take the rest of their children and go with the other herd."

Derek's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

That sounded like a divorce. The human boy had never personally experienced a divorce in his family before. He knew it existed, but he never really thought much about it since he was assured it would never happen in his family.

While his father and mother had their arguments, they never threatened to leave each other. Heck, they never threatened each other at all.

The last time they had anything close to a huge argument was when the boy was only twelve and Aylene was eight. Derek was down in his room working on his homework when he heard a commotion upstairs. The most it sounded like were loud voices muffled together. A few minutes later, Aylene came running into his room with tears streaming down her face. Seeing her frightened immediately kicked Derek's older brother protective instincts into overdrive.

When Derek ran upstairs to see what was going on, he saw their father heading for the door. When Derek stopped him and confronted both of his parents, he soon realized what was going on: Elinor was making a cake and Jonathan had accidently knocked over the milk, spilling it all over the floor. Unfortunately, Elinor was also having a rough day, so the accident kind of set her off.

However, getting frustrated with her husband also made her get frustrated with herself. So when he offered to go get some more milk, she was also protesting against. However, Jonathan still insisted on getting the milk. And that was the reason he was heading for the door: to go to the store and get some milk.

Still, Derek informed them that their arguing had scared Aylene because she thought something bad was happening between the two of them. The family reconciled immediately. Jonathan and Elinor apologized for their behavior, saying they didn't mean to act so harshly toward each other. They also explained that grown-ups argue sometimes, but they would never hurt each other or their children, and they would most certainly never leave each other.

That incident was the only thing Derek had experienced to the fear of his parents breaking up. He couldn't even imagine how horrifying or painful that would be if it really did happen.

"Anyway," Grandpa Longneck slowly continued, "Later that night, the leader of the herd returned with the horrible news that the rest of the herd was attacked and destroyed by a pack of sharp-teeth. Which also included Mr. Threehorn's family. He tried to hide it, but Grandma and I could tell he was devastated and heartbroken. For one thing, he didn't bother to argue with anyone for the rest of the journey and was extremely hostile to anyone who asked him what was wrong.

"But I can't blame him. He had lost his family, and I'm willing to guess that he thought it was all because of him. No one had mentioned this to him, but during our journey to the Great Valley, he would sometimes shed tears in his sleep. I could tell he loved his family very much."

Derek just stared at the old longneck, unable to find the words to express his current feelings of mild shock and sorrow. This was probably the saddest thing he had ever heard. And judging by Grandpa Longneck's tone, he wasn't too happy relating the tale either.

Then again, he would also know what it feels like to lose a loved one. His daughter died saving Littlefoot and Aylene. While the act was noble and was certainly true love, it didn't mean it wasn't painful.

However, the elder Apatosaurus then smiled softly.

"I know Grandma and I were happy to see our grandson was alive," he said, "I can only imagine how overjoyed Mr. Threehorn was when Cera returned to him."

"Cera's the only surviving member of his family," the human whispered.

"Indeed." Grandpa Longneck nodded. "Which is probably why he's so protective of her. Kind of like you with Aylene."

"Yeah, I guess so," the boy mumbled. "If anything happened to her, I don't know what I'd do. But…how do I make her understand that?"

"I can't tell you that for sure, Derek." Grandpa Longneck replied caringly. "I guess the best thing I can say is to love her, support her, and trust her."

"Hmph," the boy grinned, "Littlefoot said something like that when we talked about the same issue. Now I see who he gets his wisdom from."

The elder Apatosaurus smiled graciously at the compliment and nodded.

"Well," he then yawned, "we better get some sleep."

"What about Littlefoot and Aylene?" Derek asked.

"I'm sure they'll be back soon." Grandpa Longneck replied. "And if not, then we'll look for them in the morning."

"Aren't you worried about them?"

"Of course, but I know that Littlefoot wouldn't wander into the Mysterious Beyond by himself. And as long as he's with Aylene, he should be fine. She's very protective of her friends. I know he will come back soon enough.

Although still uneasy about the situation, Derek nodded.

After letting out a yawn, the boy then settled down against the giant reptile's foreleg and began to doze off.

Aylene was right about one thing: surprisingly, a dinosaur was more comfortable than a rock. Plus, Grandpa Longneck was starting to remind Derek of his own grandfather, Richard.

"I guess this world isn't so bad after all," the human boy said quietly to himself.

With that, Derek fell asleep.


End file.
